


Toss Up

by MissHattress



Category: Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-25 03:38:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 76,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3795274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissHattress/pseuds/MissHattress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>". . . A situation in which all outcomes or options are equally possible or equally attractive."</p>
<p>For Ari, life was just a daily routine of school, work, sleep, hang out with friends and repeat. Her life was fairly normal, that is until four new kids arrive at Midtown High and everything is flipped upside down as she finds out more about herself and her newly found friends. </p>
<p>(This is a Danny Rand/Oc story) </p>
<p>This story is also available on WattPad</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cirque Aigile

 

The sound of a passing by car horn dragged my conscious from dreamland (a rather pleasant dream mind you) as I let out a disgruntled groan. I pull my pillow over my messy brown locks in a vain attempt of blocking out the noise, as the sound of rapid rapping on my front door finally fully woke me up. I let out a soft sigh, glaring into my pillow.

I hate mornings.

“Ari!” the familiar (yet muffled) voice of my best friend called out to me, “Ari, wake up or you’ll be late!” blearily I threw the covers off my body, bare feet padding against the wooden floor. I make my way through my tiny apartment, through my living room and was about to reach the door when it swung open; russet tresses contrasting against my dreary grey wallpaper.

“If you have a key,” I yawn, reaching a hand under my tank top to scratch my stomach, “Why the heck did you knock, MJ?”

“ _Because_ it’s the polite thing to do, besides just barging in like I own the place isn’t exactly something anyone would like to wake up to.” she said taking a seat on my sofa. “Slept in actual pajamas, huh?” I shrugged my shoulders lazily, turning back to my bathroom door.

“I was too tired last night, didn’t get a chance to take everything off.” There was a brief pause before MJ spoke.

“You work too hard . . .” she murmured quietly. “Are you really sure you don’t want any—”

“I’m fine MJ,” I replied with a tired smile. “I know you guys worry about me, but it’s only for one more year . . .” MJ opened her lips to say something but another knock at the door interrupted her reply.

“MJ? Ari? You guys there?” Peter’s voice questioned from the other side. We exchange a glance before I went to open the door. It brought a smile to my lips to see Pete covering his eyes with his hands. The dork.

“I see nothing! Totally blind right now Ari.” He said quickly waving his free hand in the air in mock surrender.

“Relax Parker,” I chuckle. “I’m dressed!” he peers through the crack between his fingers and let out a relieved sigh.

“Luckily . . .” I raise a questioning brow and in turn he jabbed his thumb to gesture to four unfamiliar faces standing a few yards away from my door. I make an ‘O’ with my lips, nodding understandingly and opened the door wider.

“They’re free to come in; we still have _two hours_ until school starts, anyway.” I look pointedly towards MJ who smiled back innocently, reading a magazine she found on the coffee table.

“Does that mean you’ll be making pancakes?” he grins, hopeful at the sound of food. I roll my eyes, shaking my head and saunter over to my bedroom to get some clothes since I have guests over now – don’t want to parade around half naked now do I?

“I swear, sometimes I think you only love me for the food I make.” I tease, feigning hurt.

“That’s not true, I love you because you are one of my closest and most trusted friends, Ari!” he says sincerely making his way inside and gesturing the others to follow. “ _And_ because you make awesome breakfast for us!”

“Sorry for the intrusion.” A taller, blond haired boy bowed slightly, after him a girl with dark hair and mocha colored skin greeted with a simple ‘Good morning’ and a tight yet friendly smile. Two boys filed in afterwards a shorter light skinned boy with short black hair and the tallest of the group was a dark skinned well-muscled boy with cropped hair.

“Well, it’s a party now I guess . . .” I murmur with another yawn as I waddle away for my shower. After locking the door, I turn on the water to its hottest setting and strip myself down to step in. I felt my muscles relax on contact and let out a pleasant sigh. After scrubbing down and brushing my teeth, I dry myself off and throw on my favorite outfit; a pair of black tight-like pants and a navy off the shoulder tunic. I step out the bathroom while combing out my hair, turning the corner in to the living room to see the group of them chatting.

“So, Parker, who’re your friends?” I asked peering over at him.

“These are the new students that transferred here a few days ago—”

“The day after those four guys attacked the cafeteria, right?” I cut in. “That was the day I had to leave early for work.”

“It was a good thing too; a lot of people could have gotten hurt if Spider Man hadn’t shown up.” MJ says, earning a snort from the shorter male of the group. From the corner of my eye I saw Peter send a glare his way.

“ _Any_ way . . . Ari, meet Danny, Ava, Luke and Sam,” He gestures with his hand to each of them and I politely smile back at them.

“Nice to meet all of you, I’m Ari Kateri as you might have heard. Welcome to Midtown High.”

“ . . . So about those pancakes?” Peter asks earning a slap to the back of the head by MJ.

“Peter!”

“What! I’m hungry!” I snicker as MJ began to chew him out and it seemed to amuse the new kids as well.

“No worries, I always manage to make too much food anyway.” I say heading into the kitchen.

“I’ll help.” MJ offers, following at my heels.    

“It won’t be easy making enough food for these bottomless pits.” Ava smirks, much to the guys’ chagrin.

“Hey!” I managed to hear Sam croak out before I fire up the electric griddle.

 

                                                                           *******************

 

“Man, I’m stuffed!” Peter sighs while rubbing his full stomach. After breakfast we all headed out to school, while I manage to walk along with everyone else without tripping into any garbage pails. It happened _once_ and Peter _never_ let me live it down. I started to stare ahead in a daze, before a voice pulls me back to reality.

“Are you alright?” I blinked a few times, shaking away the drowsiness to turn to the calmest member of the group. Danny was it?

“Eh? Oh, yeah,” another yawn escapes my lips. “Just sleepy.” I stare at him for a bit before smiling. “You have a nice aura.”

“Huh?” before I could give him an explanation we already pass the gates to our school.

“Is it me, or did I feel like we got here way too fast?” Peter blurts out just as the first bell rung.    

“Well I have English Lit,” I say raising a hand in a small wave.

“Don’t fall asleep again Ari!” MJ called out.

“Yes mom!” I grin earning a mock glare from her. Weaving my way through the bundles of teenage hormones, I faintly hear my name being called and stopped to scan the crowd. “Danny?” he gave me a lazy grin and scratches the back of his head.

“You know, for someone so sleepy you walk pretty fast.”

“Sorry, I don’t really like the crowds, you have English Literature too?”

“According to this schedule I do.” I quirk a brow as he falls into step with me.

“Oh a funny guy, little tip; Mrs. Hanson doesn’t like funny guys.” I whisper over to him as I lead him to the room. Since no one sat next to me this class, Danny took it upon himself to take it, seeing as the looks he got from some of the girls in class equaled a pack of starving jackals eyeing a piece of meat.

“Better watch out, or they’ll eat you alive.” I say as he waves weakly at his forming fan club. At the attention, a few of them began to squeal amongst themselves.

“Any chance they’ll move on to another guy?” he inquires, turning green eyes to me.

“Hmm . . . maybe, they’re still going after Harry so unless you have a multibillion dollar corporation under your belt . . .” I trail off as he shot me a sheepish smile. “No way . . .” I gasp, eyes widening.

“Guilty as charged?”

“No wonder your name sounded so familiar!” I pat his shoulder ruefully. “Good luck soldier . . .”

“They can’t be that bad . . . right?” I was silent, averting my eyes and laying my head down on the table.

“Why does school have to start so early?” I whine lowly in an attempt to change the subject and stretching my arms so my hands hung over the edge.

“I think it was meant to take unruly teenagers off the streets for six hours a day.” I giggle at his hypothesis, leaning my head on my elbows and sliding my hair out of my face.

“That could be a pretty good reason,” I muse. “I don’t think they can even take the five or more hours we _do_ spend outside.” I grin now officially awake as the teacher made her way in after the late bell rung.

Usually I don’t have anyone to talk to, but today I think Danny was determined to keep me awake since he kept poking my side every time I began to nod off. By the end of class I had a dull ache near my ribcage.

“I think I’m going to feel that for a while . . .” I mutter to myself, rubbing my side. I could see the apologetic smile he sent my way and waved it off. “It’s fine, it was either that or have Mrs. Hanson’s coffee breath in my face.” I grimaced.

 

After first period, we had to part ways seeing as we had different classes up until lunch after that we shared gym along with everyone else oddly enough.

Miraculously I manage to stay up long enough to make it to lunch time, but by then I was only half awake. Low blood sugar plus lack of sleep do not mix well and do not fuel my usual quick-witted banter.

Heading over to our usual table I spotted the familiar mop of red hair along with the ever-so popular heir to one of the biggest corporations in the big apple and our very own science wiz.

Ha, _wiz_. . .

“Whoa, Kateri actually managed to make it _without_ passing out on the way!” Harry teases as I sent him a weak glare.

“You’re lucky I don’t have the energy to make a decent reply, or that cocky smirk would be wiped off your face.”

“Ooh, someone’s cranky today.”

“Oh you know I love you,” I say passively, laying my head down onto the cold wooden table. “By the way MJ, thanks for telling Danny to keep me awake. Any snarky comments I make, blame to my missing hours of sleep I manage to snag during class.”

“How do you know I asked him?” she asks with a slight lilt to her voice. I look at her through my bangs, resting my chin on the table.

“Because you’re the only one nosy enough to,” I grin as she rolled her eyes.

“I prefer to call it concerned.” I grunt at her ‘concern’. “Now don’t forget to eat today or so help me I _will_ force feed you again.”

“Yes _mother_!” I drawl much to the boys’ amusement.

“Wait,” Peter butted in, blue eyes narrowing. “You have a class with Danny?” I nod, sitting up since the smell of disinfectant coming off from the cafeteria table was making me nauseous.

“English Lit, lunch and gym actually. I have history with Sam and Luke, but Ava’s in the advanced classes so I don’t share any with her.” There was a thoughtful look on his face for a moment before he frowned.

“What a happy coincidence . . .” he utters with what seemed like forced enthusiasm. Before I could say anything I feel a soft poke at my side. Jumping a bit in my seat I turn to see a grinning Danny, arms crossed.

“It’s lunch so it’s completely legit if I sleep!” I pout, earning a chuckle out of him.

“Just keeping you on your toes,” he then turns to Peter. “Can we borrow you for a sec?” Pete frowns, obviously not too pleased.

“Is it really important? I’m trying to hang out with my friends here . . .”

“It’ll only be for a few minutes, promise.” After a defeated sigh, Peter stands; begrudgingly following the blond towards the other three teens not so far away. It only takes four seconds to pass before MJ shoots me a mischievous look, her smile looking a bit _too_ wide for my liking.

“So . . .” she began, placing her hands on the table and leaning in. “Do you like him?”

It took a moment to realize what she had just asked me before I answered curtly. “I like him, but not so much in the way I’m hoping you’re not implying.”

“But you guys look good together! Right Harry?” he put his hands up.

“I’m not getting involved in girl-talk. Been there, done that, not going back.”

“MJ, you know I’m not into getting into a relationship . . .” I utter quietly. They both glance at one another before she pats my hand, a warm smile on her lips.

“We know . . . it’s just when—or if—the time comes just give it a chance?”

I muse on the idea, before smiling back. Now that I thought about it he _was_ kind of cute . . . “ _Fine_ , if it’ll get you off my back.” With an ecstatic nod from her, I dig into my bag to get that pork bun I managed to snag (and by snag I mean bought of course) a few days ago. Those things could _last_.

Just when I began to eat, MJ shot me a look that clearly said I should choose a more nutritious option but I say bah to that! Harry let out a quiet grunt as his eyes passed over Parker and his new friends.

“If you’re thinking Peter is ditching us for them I’ll throw my spoon at you.” I quip. He sends me a surprised look before he frowns again.

“I _hate_ it when you do that, you know?” I shrug at his comment, taking a bite of my bread. It was my cheat day damn it so I’m gonna enjoy it!

“You’re like an open book Osborn, you’re eyes say it all~!” for added affect, I wiggle the fingers on my free hand in his face. He smacks it away with a huff, annoyed but spirits lifted since I could see his lips forming into a smile.

“Hey I know! Why don’t we invite them to your show, Ari?” MJ suggests.      

“What? Why?!” Harry hisses over at her.

“I don’t mind,” I hum much to his chagrin. “I always have a few spare tickets.”

“But that’s always been _our_ thing . . .”

“Calm down Harry, it could be fun!” says MJ with a contemplative look. “This morning we all had breakfast at Ari’s place, and they were pretty cool.”

“Et too, Ari?” he grumbles. “Now you’re all having breakfast together?”

“It was kind of short notice.” I shrug. “But hey, at least I was dressed!” Harry’s eyes slides from MJ then to me.

“Fine, whatever.” He huffs, crossing his arms.

“I thought that line was only used when a girl wanted to end an argument but secretly holds it against you for months until it finally explodes, and she verbally pistol-whips you across the face?” they both give me odd looks to which I merely shrug again.

“Now that Ari’s daily obscure head-trip is done and over with,” MJ begins. “Now’s a perfect time to ask!” Harry rolls his eyes and leans back in his seat indifferently.  

“Ladies!” Sam grins, squeezing between us and throwing his arms over our shoulders. “As always, it’s a pleasure.” The red-head couldn’t help but laugh at his attempt at flirting and I had to admit it brought a smile to my face too. From breakfast I discovered that he and I had similar taste in humor and swapped some stories, though he was a bit of a hot head, he was a good guy deep down.

Deep, deep down.

“Settle down Casanova,” Luke says as he and Ava take a seat across from us next to Harry. Danny slides in right next to me opting to sit with his back against the table.  

“See? That didn’t take too long did it?” I shot at Harry who just shrugged. Peter flanks his left, not particularly giddy about the extra teens.

“So seeing as its Friday,” MJ starts, always getting straight to the point. “We were wondering if you’d like to come with us to a special show tonight.” Peter, catching onto what she was saying shot her look that begged her to stop. She ignored it like a good friend should.

“Show?” Ava questions.

“A Cirque,” I further elaborate. “It’s in the village and it’s called ‘ _Cirque Aigile_ ’.”

“You work for a circus? So what, are you gonna jump through a flaming hoop in a clown outfit or something?” Sam snickers as I scoff.

“It’s more contemporary than that, ya dork. It’s more like telling stories.”

“Sounds interesting,” says Luke.

I reach into my bag, grabbing a bundle of black entry bracelets. “These are for you guys; it gets you the best seats and early admission.” I explain while handing them out.

Sam holds his up to the light, turning it this way and that. “What makes these so special?”

“The ordinary ones are white with the cirque’s name,” I flip his over to point to the eagle with its wings expanded. “These are obviously not and are branded with the eagle it was named after.”

“They say that Eagles have the ability to see hidden truths.” Danny states in cool baritone then shoots me a puzzling look I couldn’t quite understand. The table was quiet.

“You have got to stop doing that thing man,” Luke deadpans. “It makes it seem you have some deeper meaning that what you’re talking about.” Danny smiles good-naturedly and shrugs, pocketing the bracelet.

“I don’t know . . .” Ava trails off, looking through a small book that seems to be a day planner. “We have the big physics test coming up and I have a lot of studying to do—” she looks up at our impassive faces—hey for once I’m not the only one! “Fine,” she sighs.

“Great!” MJ beams, “We can all meet up at the train station and head to ‘ _Aigile_ ’! You guys will love it; they have these awesome projections that support the performers!”

“Why can’t we meet up at Ari’s? No parentals to ask ‘Where are you going?’, ‘What time are you getting back?’, or my favorite ‘Why do you have to go now? Your Grandma just came by to visit!’” Sam rants, much to my amusement.

“Because Ari has isn’t going straight home and has to do a final practice for the show.” I voice, He sticks his tongue out at me in response.

“Awesome, it’ll be a group hang-out! And maybe afterwards we can all watch movies at Ari’s house!” Peter emits with false enthusiasm, it was faint, but I could tell he was dreading tonight.

“Why is it always at my house?”

“I think Sam cleared that up for us,” Danny states resting his elbows on the table.

 

                                                                   ***************

 

                                                            Third person’s Point of View

 

The sound of the rushing subway cars was left behind as the group of teens climbed their way from the underground tunnels. Other New Yorker’s passing them by with indifference as they got their bearings.

“Okay guys, the Cirque is just a few blocks from here. Everyone got their bracelets?” MJ asks as Harry and the others hold up their wrists in affirmation.

“So how expensive it the food there?” Sam asks blandly, hands resting lazily behind his back.

Ava rolls her eyes, scoffing. “Is food the only thing that runs in that pea brain of yours?”

“Hey, I can’t help it if I’m a growing boy. I have to have some way of feeding these guns” he says, flexing for added affect.

“You’ll probably need to buy out the entire place if you’re thinking about gaining a few inches.” Peter laughs, comparing his height to his.

“Watch it Parker . . .” he growls as the two begin a glaring contest.

“Hey, hey, hey! Settle down now boys,” MJ begins, getting in between the two and pushing them gently apart. “This is Ari’s night, and we _all_ have to be there for her in one piece!”

“She’s right, let’s just enjoy tonight seeing as it is Friday after all. No school for two whole days!” Luke grins, stretching his arms above his head.

“Look, we’re already here.” Harry informs them as they make their way through the clusters of Brown Houses and neatly trimmed trees. A tall black and white stripped tent looms over them; clusters of families and couples lining up for the show and chatting excitedly about the night’s performance.

“The Cirque must be really popular,” Danny says looking around, his eyes landing on a crystal globe with a holographic poster spinning around in the center. “Alice in Wonder Land?”

“Whoa! What kind of tech is this place using?” Sam bellows as a small scene from the routine was displayed in the same globe.

“See?” MJ states, feeling proud that her friend was working in one of most tech-savvy performance stages in the city. “Madam Paola is the owner; she gave me an interview on the inner workings of the stage. It was a bit confusing at first, but the stage assistant Brian helped me out with the more technical portions of my article.” They went up to the ticket booth, showing the collector behind the glass their wrist bands before he smiled and let them in graciously.

“Enjoy! And welcome to Cirque Aigile!” he said in a slight accent that hinted towards the western European. Sam mimics him silently, crossing his eyes together as Ava elbows him.

After buying a few treats from the concession stands that were scattered about in the lobby, they make their way to their seats. Seeing as they were at least ten minutes early due to their special bands, one of the stage assistants dressed in the Aigile colors waves them over with a friendly smile. She had lightly tanned skin, her natural hair let out and parted slightly to the side.

“MJ, Harry, Peter! It’s so nice to see you all again!” she greets them, as the group neared.

“Kenya, it’s nice to see you again!” MJ smiles, giving the smaller girl a hug. “This is some new friends of ours; Ava, Sam, Luke and Danny. They just arrived at our school a few days ago.”

“Ah, the new kids huh? I remember when I was still in school when my parent’s and I kept moving around. Not an easy thing to do at all . . .” she trails off, leaving the others to wonder just how old she really was seeing as she didn’t look a day over twenty. “Anyway, please have a seat! Some of the other performers are already warming up and I think Ari is too!”

“There she is!” Peter called out as their dark haired friend swings onto the stage. Letting go of the bar, her body is pin straight as she twirls brilliantly in the air before catching the opposite bar and swinging herself up to a stand.

“A little lagging when you released the bar, Ari!” A tall, well dressed woman in a dark purple ensemble with a matching rose pin on her collar calls out.

Catching her breath, Ari nods slipping her foot off of the bar to fall onto her back on the safety net.

“When the performance begins, the net is removed. The Cirque is famous for being one of the few in the world to do this!” Kenya explains to them before speaking into her headset. “I have to go speak with a guy on a few last minute things, hope you guys enjoy the show!” she says waving at them and rushing off.

“A serious looker, that one,” Harry smirks watching her leave, “I can’t help loving the more mature ladies,” he explains with a shrug as MJ gives him a look.

“You don’t even know how old she is!” Peter voices with a disbelieving laugh, digging into his popcorn.

“Mystery adds class; oh she’s going for it again.”

This time when Ari performs the stunt, it seemed to flow smoother than the last run. Ari catches the bar, nearly missing it and flipping up into a pose with a cattish grin. Seeing as she was dressed in dark purple and pink stripped two pieced costume with furry leggings, the role that she would be playing would be the Cheshire Cat. Looking more closely, they could finally make out the feline whiskers and ears that were marked on her cheeks.

“ _Bene_ that’s enough practice,” the woman announces, getting up from her seat and walking past the group with a rather handsome young man with a clipboard and uniform in tow.

“So who was that broad?” Sam asks, absent mindedly sipping on his soda.

“’That Broad’ is the owner, Madam Paola so show a little respect will you?” Peter frowns.

“I’ve done some research on the place, says that she single handily started this place from the ground up. Most of the tech was developed by her too . . .” Ava murmurs, scrolling through a few notes on her phone.

“She’s never fully revealed a lot of her tricks, makes me wonder what she uses to make some of this stuff happen.” Peter says with an excited glint in his eye.

“Some things cannot be explained by ordinary means,” Danny quips, earning a few strange looks from his friends.

“So, what, you’re saying she uses magic or something?” Sam questions skeptically.

“Call it a hunch.” The blonde replies, leaning into his seat as the sound of the rest of the audience filing through the doors surrounds, them.

 

The show goes off without a hitch, the audience absolutely captivated by Alice in her wonder land, the tall flowers and trees added a beautiful affect that even Ava almost forgot they were just illusions. The children in the audience especially seemed to enjoy Ari’s and Alice’s interaction, a special lighting affect made it appear as if Ari really was disappearing and reappearing around the stage and her make up seemed to have glowed, almost like a black light affect. There was even an act where Alice tumbled into a giant yellow daisy and the whole audience cheered when the flower let out a dazzling pink light and she appeared on a golden hoop above the stage. There was an array of applause and some people actually stood from their seats to cheer.

“That was so cool!” Sam cheers, letting out a loud whistle between his fingers as the others look on in amusement.

“Weren’t you the one to say you were too old for a circus?” Luke smirks, crossing his arms and raising a brow.

“W-what?!” he scoffs, “I said circus, this is a _cirque_! Ari said so herself!” he defends with a huff. After the production was over, MJ and the group stay back along with some of the friends and family of the performers to chat.

“I’ve never seen this show before,” Harry notes thoughtfully, leaning back in his seat. “It must have been opening night.”

“It was so full in here, when it looked back it almost felt like a full house!” MJ voices happily. Twenty minutes passed as they chatted away and Ari stepped up the stairs from the dressing rooms, a big grin on her lips.

“Hey guys!”

There’s our girl! Awesome job as usual.” Peter says standing to give her a hug. She rubs the back of her neck shyly, stepping away.

“Thanks Pete, and thank you all for coming!” she beams, full of energy. “So did you like it?”

“Sam here sure did, he wouldn’t stop raving about it.” Danny teases much to the shorter boys chagrin.

“I’m glad; Ann Marie and the others really gave it their all today so I had to, too!”

“Someone sure seems pumped up, it’s a nice change.” Says Luke, brushing popcorn crumbs from his sweater,

“I can’t help it if I am after a show! This is why I always have trouble sleeping!”

“Then how about we all go out to eat?” Harry suggest. “Popcorn and Junior mints do not a meal make.”

“Sure! I know a really good place near here that gives us a really good discount price, follow me.” Ari says hopping up the steps with a flourish, doing some kind of cartwheel.

“Cool it on the stunts Ari, the shows over!” MJ laughs as her friend sticks out her tongue.

“A performers’ job is never over, even when the curtains go down!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here’s the first chapter of ‘Toss up’ . . . up! This is a story I’ve been writing for a while now and it wasn’t until a friend of mine goaded me in to uploading it somewhere that I finally caved. That website was originally Quizilla, but since it’s closed now I might be moving most of my stories to here since it’s easy to manage were I am.  
> If there are any Quizilla users out there that are shifting to here, hello!
> 
> Anyway.
> 
> This story will involve a bit of a cross-over with a certain other game, so please bear with it. Questions and critiques are always welcome so please feel free to ask away. =D  
> This story will mostly be a Danny/Ari (OC) with a few side pairings so if you guys have any suggestions, please let me know! I’m kind of excited to see where this goes! Also, this fanfic will follow the main timeline of the cartoon to a certain degree, with my own little twist added to it.
> 
> See ya!
> 
> -Hattress
> 
> P.S This story is also available on Wattpad! =D
> 
> P.S.S. Thank you guys for reading, have a great day! :D


	2. Venom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this took so long to post. Work has been crazy and i kind of got a stomach virus and still recovering. Thank you so much to Anne for commenting and leaving a kudos-it really means a lot!
> 
> \--MissHattress

I feel a sigh escape my lips as the booming techno music thrummed through the glass door of the balcony where I made my escape to. Atop the pounding headache I had, the small gathering Harry said he was going to have escalated to a full out house party which wasn’t exactly helping the former predicament.

“Ugh . . .” I groan, messaging my temples. I rest my head against the cool metal pole as the door behind me slid open, the music growing louder for a moment before quieting down.

“Mind if I join you?” the sound of Danny’s quiet footsteps managed to reach my ears as a tired smile managed to sneak its way onto my lips.

“Not at all. Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have any aspirin on you would you?” I ask, hopeful for some relief.

“I try not to resort to them, sorry.”

Another sigh, “My kingdom for some painkillers . . !” I cry out resting my head on the railing again.

“I may not have those, but I do have something better, wanna try it?”

“If it were coming from anyone but you, I would say that would be a come on but sure I’m game.” He rolls his eyes and gestures me to turn to face him. I did, feeling my cheeks warm up at the closeness. He rests his hands on either sides of my face, thumbs brushing my temples. “Now I’m pretty sure it’s a come-on.” I mutter, focusing my attention on his necklace. He chuckles, his breath ticking my cheeks.

“I promise I won’t try anything funny . . . unless you want me to?” I could feel my heart beating erratically against my chest and I prayed he couldn’t feel it.

“J-just help me, o-okay?” I stutter with a flush.

“Your wish is my command; okay now close your eyes.” I did so and immediately felt a warmth spread through me; his once cold hands now heated as I felt my migraine slowly disappear. I open my eyes and stared up at him in astonishment.

“How did you . . ?”

“Secret,” he smiles, his hands still cupping my face and oddly enough I didn’t mind. We stood there in silence, just staring into each other’s eyes before a loud crash was heard, followed by a scream. That managed to snap us out of it and we quickly broke apart, I didn’t notice how close we’ve gotten before that ~~untimely~~ interruption.      

“We should, uh, go check that out, yeah?” I utter awkwardly as he nods in agreement, slightly embarrassed.

Inside was total chaos. There was broken glass from the lights above us, everyone panicking and hurrying to the doors to escape.

“What the hell is going on?!” I shout over the screams. The lights were totaled, and it was too dark to see. Tuning out the panicked screams, I take I focused on my vision, everything around me turning bluish grey as the bodies of the students who were escaping began to glow a very faint white. Up against the wall, I spot two bright figures avoiding the chaos, _MJ, Harry and . . . someone hanging on to the wall . . ?_ Two other figures were making their way to them, and I recognized them as Ava and Luke.

“This way!” I call out to Danny, grabbing his hand. “MJ, Harry!” they turn to face me but didn’t have time to call out to me before Ava shoves them both outside. I could feel Danny’s hand tighten around mine before he took the lead, pulling me in the same direction. “W-what about Peter?!”

“He’ll be okay; we have to get you out of here!” I glance back to see Spider-Man getting slammed to the expansive bookshelf by a monster with tentacles whipping wildly from its back.

“That thing is too strong . . . we can’t just leave!” he led me into the hall where an elevator was just closing but before it did, he did he stuck me in but didn’t make any move to go in.

“I have to keep you safe; I’ll meet up with you later okay?” he says reassuringly before he turns to run back in to the fray.

“Danny!” that was the last thing I saw before the doors closed and a slight tremor rattled the cart. “No way am I staying out of this . . .” fortunately for me the lights seemed to have been effected here as well since they began to flicker and eventually give out.

Ignoring the sudden cries of surprise I use some poor saps head as a booster to get myself up to the ceiling hatch. “Alley-oop!” I mutter as the elevator slows and I take the chance to grab onto a jutting notch to hoist myself up. I activate my special vision and spot a glowing white square, perhaps an opening? I carefully climb my way up, wary of any unseen cobwebs and yank on the small knob connected to it.

The creamy yellow walls greet me and I swing myself out, landing in a low crouch. Since Harry was on the top floor I make my way up the stairs and not two flights later I was on the roof. I opted to not take the stairs, call it a nagging feeling, and I really didn’t mind scaling the wall the connected to the larger space of the roof.

Five seconds later a ruined railing slammed against the staircase I just came through.

Gulping, I peek over the edge and see that inky black monster from earlier along with four other heroes. One I recognized as Spider-Man but the other three I didn’t quite know.

Oh if only MJ were here she would love the shots.

Hauling myself up, I creep quietly into the shadows of a tall metal ventilation system and watch the battle in awe. One of the heroes shot a glowing light blue beam at the monster that kept referring to itself as ‘Venom’. It shrugged off the beam, slamming the hero to the ground with a shake. Venom suddenly looked over to the right and I spot something that made my blood run cold—MJ and Harry!

It was when I look over in their direction I notice someone plastered to the wall in black goop, one of the heroes sporting a yellow bandana over his eyes. We make eye contact as I stare up at him quizzically— how had I not noticed him there? He begins to struggle against his binds shaking his head in what I think means to get out of the area.

“Sorry Mr. Green Man, my friends are in trouble!” I say, picking up a thin pipe that was just over my height. Of course, Venom spotted me and began sending his weird tentacles out to catch me but I jump away at each attempt and stabbed at one that almost snags my leg. He recoils in pain and I dive over the edge in time to see MJ, who was holding on to Harry on for dear life, but the railing she was leaning on was beginning to bend!

Behind me I could hear Venom crying out in pain and sparks of electricity but I couldn’t look back as Harry nearly slipped before MJ caught him again.

“MJ!” I cry out.

“Ari! H-help!” I throw the pole to help her hoist him up back on to the roof, Harry muttering something about chest hair.

“Man Osborne, lay off the nachos will ya?” I grunt as we run up the stairs. Venom was gone and noted one more taller kid dressed in black and yellow standing beside Spider-Man along with the three other heroes.

“Any of you guys seen my friend Peter?” Harry asks, out of breath.

“Shrimpy kid?”

“Spaghetti arms?”

“Three dollar hair cut?”

“Only a ninety-eight average?” the other three boys (one—Mr. Green Man—who I noted was in nothing but his briefs ~~though I’m not complaining~~ ) looked at the girl who spoke last. “What? That’s not a jokey insult?” I snort quietly looking over the rooftop.

_No red spots . . . I guess Venom really is gone . . ._ ever since I was little I could see things like this—red for enemy, blue for ally, gold for any person of interest and white for anything that might be able to help me like that hatch in the elevator shaft or even people. The brighter and more vivid the color, the better. 

“Don’t worry,” Spider-Man says patting his shoulder. “He’s fine.”

“I’m glad . . . he’s my best friend . . .”

“You okay?” the taller one with shades asks me. I nod with a small smile.

“Feeling a bit of a rush, but I’m perfectly fine.”

“Those were some pretty impressive moves, considering.” The one wearing a golden helmet smirked.

“Considering what, bucket head?” I snap. The others laugh at his grimace of the nickname and I could hear Spider-Man snickering something over the girl in the white costume. Suddenly the doors to the roof slam open as Mr. Osborne barges in, flanked by two cops. He looks around before glaring at Spider-Man and his friends.

“You _destroyed_ it?!” Was it me or did he sound angry at the fact? “Thank goodness! Get the heroes some help.” he sighs, gesturing to the cops and walking over to his son. I couldn’t hear their conversation, but I was glad he and Harry could have a moment.

“Well now that all is over and done with, I think I had enough excitement for one night.” I say, folding my arms behind my head and stepping away but before I could MJ, grabs me by the hem of my shirt.

“Oh no you don’t, _we_ have to help Harry clean up his place like _good_ friends should!”

“Can I not be a good friend and go home to sleep then? Besides it was his bull-headedness that made him throw that stupid party . . . no offence Osborne.”

“None taken when coming from you, Ari,” He sighs, used to my way of showing I care; in a sarcastic snippy kind of way. “How ‘bout I get you a whole bunch of those milk puddings in return?”

I thought it over for a few seconds, thinking of the money I would save. Plus PUDDING.

“Point me to the windows, captain!”

“You’d do anything for sweets, wouldn’t you?” MJ deadpans as I shake my finger at her.

“ _No_ . . . I’d do anything for _free_ food—including savory stuff too but not anything gross.” I say as MJ, Harry, his father and I left the heroes to regroup. Before we left though, I run back and turned to them. “By the way, love the look Mr. Green Man~!” I tease sending him a wink before slamming the door shut behind me. MJ shot me a look, quirking a brow. “What? You saw him too.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors note:
> 
> Well, here’s chapter two! This would have been out sooner, but . . . *points to above Author’s note* Ari’s little ability will be further explained in the next chapter and any of my gamer buddies out there can probably guess what game I’m referencing. ;) I’m wondering if I should put the game in the tags but other than a few other things this story isn’t really going to center on that game’s storyline at all with the exception of a few notable events. Please bear with me and my strange plot bunnies and my odd scheduled updates.  
> This chapter was heavily edited from the first time I posted it and that’s another part of the reason it was delayed (that and MSW completely undid all the changes I made so I had to do it again) again, sorry about that. Might do another update after this one since I actually have time. :D I'm also trying to pace out the romance a little since they just met.  
> Have a great day!  
> \--MissHattress


	3. Visions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure why my notes keep duplicating by the way. Do you guys see it or is it just me?

 

Today was a day I always welcomed with open arms, a day where I was free to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted; Saturday. It was a day off school and work—not that I didn’t like my Job, I love it with all my soul but Madam Paola says a girl my age still needs time to socialize with my friends so she gives me the weekends off. Funny since the weekends were some of the days where we were always swarmed with families, people on dates and tourists.

I sigh blissfully, rolling over on to my bare stomach and wrapping myself in my cool comforter. Nothing could ruin this moment . . .

Nothing but my phone going off . . .

“Ugh!” I grab it and shoved it to my ear, squinting at the light that blinded me for a second. “What’s up MJ?” I grunt, already knowing who it is.

Now, usually she would try to get me out of the house and drag me to places in search of ‘breaking news’ but alas this was not the case because instead of hearing her voice, I hear a deeper non-MJ voice.

“ _Not exactly,_ ” Danny chuckles and I immediately sit up, hugging the sheets to my bare chest even though I know I’m alone.

“D-Danny? How did you—”

“ _We swapped numbers during class. I promised yesterday that I would meet up with you,_ ” he explained as the memory replays in my mind.

“Oh, right. Sorry; MJ, Parker and me had to help Harry clean his place up the night before so I was pretty out of it.” I sigh, running a hand through my hair to get it out of my eyes.

“ _No worries I’m just glad you made it out okay, nothing injured?_ ”

“No . . .” I couldn’t help but smile at his concern and I felt unusually giddy for some reason. “But . . .”

“ _Hmm?_ ”

“I kind of went back . . .” I answer sheepishly. It went silent for a moment and I thought I might have lost the connection before he let out a laugh.

“ _I had a feeling you would. I’m just glad you’re okay._ ” I feel a blush creeping up to my cheeks and I was glad he couldn’t see me acting all dopey.

“I could say the same for you, you stayed up right?”

“ _I took the next lift after checking the floors again; you were really worried about Peter so I wanted to give you some peace of mind._ ”

“And I wasn’t there to hear it . . . my bad.”

“ _Feeling guilty?_ ” I quirk a brow at his tone, it almost sounded . . . flirty?

Nah, I’m probably just over thinking it.

“If I was?”

“ _If you were, I would’ve asked if you wanted to hang out today, if you were free of course._ ”

“It just so happens that I am, what do you have in mind?” I ask looking outside my window to the streets below.

“ _I’m at the Manhattan Rand corp. Headquarters, but I’ll be done by noon._ ”

“A working man too? Impressive Mr. Rand.”  

“ _I try, though the meetings are something that I wish I could skip._ ”

“I bet, so should I meet you there?” I ask, looking at the clock that read eight forty-five AM.

“ _I wouldn’t mind picking you up, really._ ”

“No it’s alright; I need to make as much contact with the outside world as possible _outside_ of school. I’m already awkward enough as it is.”

“ _I find it kind of charming; I’ll tell the front desk to be expecting you._ ”

“See you then.” We both hang up in unison after a short good-bye and I bite my lip with a smile. _I’m getting ahead of myself; it’s not a date . . . I’ll be totally normal, yeah . . ._ I jump when my phone goes off again.

“H-Hello?”

“ _Morning Ari!_ ” this time is really _was_ MJ. “ _What—_ ”

“Before you ask,” I say, “I kinda have plans today; sorry Red . . .” I could hear her gasp and some shuffling.

“ _Really?”_ there was a pause.“ _Oh my gosh, do you have a **date**?!_ ”

“No! Not a date! We’re just hanging out!” how the ever loving hell did she figure that—oh right. Reporter. More like detective.

“ _Ooh, who’s ‘we’? If you don’t tell me you know I’ll find out some way or another!_ ”

“That’s what disturbs me . . . its Danny.” I had to pull the phone away from my year as she let out a loud,

“ _I **knew** it!_ ”

“It’s not a date, okay? We’re just going to hang out _as friends_!”

“ _Okay, okay no need to get so defensive; so, what are you going to wear?_ ” I groan in frustration, her laughter ringing in my ears. “ _I’ll stop, I’ll stop; but I expect details later!_ ”

“Fine, fine . . . can you leave me to my peace already?” after a (rather drawn out) goodbye I pad over to my bathroom to shower. After my daily ritual I turn on my television as I head into the kitchen to grab a bottled breakfast smoothie. _Kiwi_ _strawberry_ , _how_ _I_ _love_ _thee_. I uncap my drink as the news played in the background.

‘ _In other news, yet another catastrophe was averted thanks to Spider-Man and his fellow heroes after an attack on the home of multibillion dollar corporation owner Norman Osborn. No injuries were reported and only minor damage has been recorded._ ’

“Guess they took out the party bit.” I muse, heading into my room to put on my usual outfit. Since it was warm out, I opted for a long, dark blue tank top with lace trimming that went a little bit past my hips with black tights and silver flats. “I hope it’ll at least be cloudy . . .” direct sun wasn’t too good for my skin since I burned easily and it was too warm for anything long sleeved.

After brushing out my hair and downing the rest of my smoothie, I grab my keys, phone, and wallet. Shoving them in my small backpack, I slide on my shades as I head out the door, locking it, I hop down the stairs. Smiling politely at the elderly woman that lives on the first floor, I open the door for her and wished her a good day as I run down the busy streets.

Quickly Google mapping the headquarters, I got on the nearest bus and wait patiently for my stop. To pass the time I stare out the window, passing by street performers and haggling vendors that sold knock-off designer items. I really didn’t feel like listening to my music since I’ve never been to this part of town before (so swanky) so I begin humming a tune to myself.

My stop finally comes up and I have to practically squeeze through the bodies of the other New Yorkers, nearly tripping off the bus in the process.    

“Could it kill them to just make a _little_ room . . ?” I grumble, dusting off my shirt. When the bus drives away, I finally get a good view of the Rand corporations New York headquarters. Twin towering skyscrapers stretch up in to the sky with shiny, crystal clear windows and their logo topping it off. I let out an impressed whistle, checking the streets before sprinting across the road.

The doors slide open silently, blasting my face with cool air. Stepping inside with my hands casually in my pockets my eyes scan over the many suit-clad women and men bustling about. Most of them ignored me, which I preferred and I make my way up to the front desk.

“Hi, my name is Ari Kateri I—”

“Ah yes, Mr. Rand is expecting you,” she says looking up from her computer with a slight smile. “All I need to see is some I.D, no offence.”

“None taken,” I hand her my identification, and after looking it over for a moment handed me a shiny ebony card.

“That will let security know you’re here to see Mr. Rand.”

“Thank you,” I look down at her name plate. “Debbie!” strolling over to the elevators I have a brief flashback of last night’s endeavors and briefly wondered if the shaft had some sort of secret opening . . . before long the doors ‘dinged’ and I was greeted with plush blue velvet carpeting and warm beige hued walls. I suddenly feel very out of place and run my hand through my hair in a vain attempt of looking presentable. Following the hallway, it leads me to a small waiting area where two guards stood on either side of dark wood doors.

I smile awkwardly and showed them the card Debbie handed me and they silently let me pass, which led to what I believed was the ‘big boss’s’ office. The carpeting was the same, but the walls were sky blue and the back wall was completely made of glass which gave a wonderful view of the city. Behind the large crescent shaped desk I see the familiar mop of blonde hair scribbling something inside a manila folder.

“Hey there boss man.” I say with a grin as he looked up, a little surprised.

“Ari, hey, is it already noon? Sorry the meeting ran longer than I expected.” He apologizes sheepishly.

“Nah I’m early, we still have a little over half an hour to go. I figured I could sit here in awe inside your office. By the way, love the view! Mind if I look?”

“Not at all,” he smiles. With a squeal I zipped right on over and pressed my hands up against the window.

“It’s so high up!” I chirped excitedly. He chuckles a little at my enthusiasm; I was so excited I could practically feel an imaginary tail wagging behind my back.

“Most people get vertigo looking down from here,” he muses, turning back to his paperwork. Huh, never thought I’d say _that_.    

“I’ve always loved high places for some reason, always used to freak my mom out because I used to teeter on the windowsill. Which now that I think about it freak _anyone_ out.”

“I’ll have to agree with you on that. So, what does your mother do?” he asks out of pure curiosity.

“My mom isn’t really around anymore . . .” I utter quietly, my hands slipping from the window to my sides. A large cloud passes the sun then, shadowing the room for a brief moment before it broke through.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“It’s alright, it was two years ago so I’ve had time.” I smile, “She wasn’t the type to let people feel sad. She was the one who cheered me on when I wanted to perform at Agile.” I reminisce fondly. His footsteps must have been softened by the carpeting because suddenly he was right beside me, placing a warm hand on my shoulder.

“It still isn’t easy loosing family,” I assume he spoke of experience, judging by that mournful glimmer in his usually bright green eyes.

“Okay, enough talk of the deceased,” I say patting his hand, “So what do you have in mind for today?” the television that I suddenly noticed hummed softly in the background, doing a cover of what looked like Coney Island.

“How about that? I’ve never actually been there whenever I came to the city.” Turning slowly to face him I slide on my most serious expression and stared him dead in the eye.

“There are not enough words in my vocabulary to express how much I want to go.” He gives me a crooked grin and ran a hand through his hair.

“Great, I’ll go change. I feel like somebody’s father in this thing.” He says loosening his tie. My eyes follow the movement as he walks past to a door adjacent to the windows and I fought down a flush. The movement was mesmerizing to me for some reason . . . “Feel free to take a seat anywhere you’d like.” He says over his shoulder before disappearing into the room.

Looking around for anyone who could possibly see me (which I doubt) I speed over to his desk and began to spin around in his chair. I inwardly cheer in my head as the colors of his office began to blur. I always wanted to spin around in these expensive looking things! Lost in my moment I hear someone clear their throat and I immediately stop making my head spin for a moment.

“You must be really excited for the park, eh?” I heard three of him tease whilst putting a hand to my head.

“Can you guess what my favorite ride is? I’ll give you a hint: it involves spinning and it’s a teacup.”

“Let me rack my brain a moment,” he rolls his eyes good naturedly, “so are you ready to go or should I give you a minute?” I got onto my feet, shaking my head free of the dizziness.

“I’m good, are you sure it’s okay though? You seemed kind of busy.”

“I finished up early, I think as a teenager I deserve some time off.”

“The ‘savvy business man’,” I snicker elbowing him playfully. As we leave his office, he bids the two guards goodbye and I swear the elevator ride was longer going down than it was when I was coming up.

“Are we taking one of those fancy town cars?” I ask as we stepped outside into the afternoon city streets.

“Not unless you want to, but I _do_ have knowledge of the subway you know.” I roll my eyes fanning my face with my hand and slipping my shades back on.

“Nah, I always felt so uncomfortable around expensive stuff.”

“Well that explains why you stood so far away from the vase near the door.”

“Would you rather have it broken? I didn’t think so.”

 

                                                                                   ***

 

In about an hour we were greeted with the famous boardwalk that led to the crowded food stands of the famous Coney Island. There were carnival rides, a haunted house and the very well-known Ferris wheel and . . .

“Bumper cars!” I cry out, hopping up and down. “Can we do that one first? Can we?!” he blinks a few times before shrugging.

“You know, this is the most active I’ve seen you during the day.”

“Well I have today and tomorrow off, come Monday I’ll be half asleep again so I’m going to enjoy it while I can!” after a short wait we were paired up in a double seated metallic blue cart with the parks symbol on it. “Do you want to drive?” he shakes his head.

“I’m more of a spectator when it comes to things like this.” He answers simply.

“Wow, that’s a first. So you’re more of a pacifist rather than a fighter?” I inquire as we took our seats and buckle ourselves in.

“’A people free to choose will always choose peace.’” Gripping the steering wheel, I shoot him am odd look.

“Where do you come up with these things?” before he could answer, a buzzer went off and the control man greets us from the outside of the riding area,

“Greetings boys and girls! Today is a special day here at ‘ _Bumpin’ rides_ ’, today we’re having a special competition and this group was the lucky batch!” there were excited murmurs amongst the other riders and I lean back, curious.

“The game is simple, each car has a number there’s a buzzer hooked up to each one and whenever you’re hit,” he sounded a low pitch buzzer sound, “That sound goes off, but, whenever you hit someone else;” this time a ‘ding’ noise went off.

“That one goes off. There’s a counter that records how many times you’ve hit another player and how many hit’s you’ve taken on this board behind me! Whichever team gets the most points wins two free season pass to the park _and_ a two-hundred dollar gift certificate to any restaurant of their choice!” I instantly sat up straight.

“Danny, we’re going to win.” I state, eyes narrowing in concentration. “You might want to hang on.”

“What— _whoa_!” he cries out as the staring horn goes off. Right off the bat I got three different cars and swerved out of the way of an incoming one.

“Wow! Car Thirteen is on _fire_! Just look at that determination!”

Making a sharp U-turn I bump away three more before one sneaks up on me to knock us into the wall.

“But it looks like car number seven is coming back for revenge!” gripping the wheel once again, I speed away from the wall before number seven could ram into us. I chuckle darkly to myself as they begin to scramble, the driver sending me a heated glare from her jade green eyes.

“Ari?” Danny begins, gripping the sides of the car, “do you think we could slow down a little?” he asks and in the back of my mind I was impressed that he managed to stay this calm.

“No can do Danny boy, I _will_ win that voucher!”

 

Twenty minutes and two tingling wrists later, the contest ends and the cars power themselves down, much to my displeasure. I had another team in my sights!

“Alright teams, keep your eyes on the board as it begins to tally up and present the wining team! Keep your eyes on number one!” the numbers next to the teams began to flicker up like thumbing through the pages of a book between your fingers. I stare up at our team number, biting my lip in anxiety.

_Come on . . ._ I mentally chant. The score board blinks off for a moment before displaying the top three winners and it wasn’t until the announcer called out our number that I unbuckle myself and jump up.  

“Come on up winners!” he calls out, I looked down at Danny to see him slowly letting go of the cart, stretching his fingers before sighing in relief.      

“Remind me not to get into a car with you anytime soon,” he says with a tired smile.

“Will do!”

After claiming our prizes and getting our picture taken (for god knows what) we walk off towards the food stands.

“This is by far the best day ever!” I cheer before taking a bite of my chilidog.

“Glad you’re enjoying yourself,” the blonde stated, still looking a bit rigid. He didn’t eat meat, so he had a veggie burger instead “I’ve been in a lot of crazy situations, but that one actually managed to shake me a little!” He muses. I quirked a brow, taking a sip of my lemonade,

“What kind of crazy situations?” he shoots me a secretive smile, “ah, another secret huh? How mysterious . . . interesting.”

“Just a few things here and there nothing major,” He shrugs off easily, “So what do you want to do next?”

“How about the beach? This heat is _killing_ me.” he looks around at the giant lines for the rides and nodded in agreement.

 

After throwing our trash away I kick off my flats and run into the sand, letting out a loud laugh as I cart wheeled onto the softness, landing on my back. I stare up at the endless sky, the cool breeze sprinkling droplets of sea water onto my cheeks and let out a content sigh.

The sun was suddenly blocked by a mop of yellow hair.

“Hey, you’re blocking my sun!” I laugh he shakes his head with a laugh of his own before laying down opposite me. “Word of advice, don’t do a cartwheel after eating a chilidog . . .”

“Noted,” we sit there in comfortable silence, staring up at the clouds, the lull of the ocean combined with the chattering of the seagulls creating a tranquil ambience between us. My eyelids begin to droop slowly, completely at ease.

“Ari?” he murmurs, eyes still transfixed onto the skies.

“Hmm?”

“Before, when we first met—”

“Three weeks ago?”

“Yes, although it feels a lot longer." he was quiet for a moment before he began to speak again.“You said something about auras,” he decided to cut straight to the point. Furrowing my brows, I run my fingers through the sand. “If you do not want to answer . . .”

“No, no, it’s not that. It’s just . . .” I struggled for the right words. “It’s weird and I don’t want to freak you or anyone else out.”

“You would not 'freak me out', Ari, trust me; but if you do not want to answer, I won’t not force you to.”

Smiling to myself, I let out a small sigh. “You know, most people would keep pestering until I give.” like three other friends I won’t mention.

“There’s nothing wrong in keeping some things to yourself, everyone has their secrets.”

“ . . . You make it really hard to not tell you!” I whine with a grin, kicking my feet for added effect.“Okay, you promise you won’t freak?” I ask looking up at him so he was upside down. He sits up, crossing his legs and crossing a finger over his heart in a silent gesture. I copy him opting to sit on my knees instead.

“I’ve kind of always had it—the ability to see those auras I was talking about earlier….” I begin, poking the sand. There was no way I can look him in the eyes, the only one that knew about this was my mom.

"Well it’s not like I can see a rainbow of colors or anything only four specific colors; blue for a friend, gold for a target, white for anything that can assist me—including people or things— and red for someone’s who is a threat.

Each color kind of radiates off the people and sometimes it can be so intense that I can actually see where someone has _been_ . . . to be honest it freaks me out when I see someone coming at me and it just turns out to be their trail . . .” I pause, realizing what I had just said. I sent him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I started complaining without realizing it,” he shakes his head in a patient manner.

“It’s okay to complain, in moderation. If we never did all those pent up emotions would just keep building up.” I run a hand through my hair out of habit; I always have since I could remember. “See? Do I look freaked out to you?” he asks with a slight tilt of his head.  

“I don’t know,” I smile finding it kind of cute. “You’re always so mellow! Not that _that_ ’s a bad thing, I actually kind of like it and—ugh, I’m just going to shut up now.” I blurt, bowing my head to let my hair hide my face. I could hear him chuckling to himself.

“So do you always see the world this way?” I shake my head.

“No, I can turn it off but sometimes it switches on without me wanting it to.” he nods, ‘hmm-ing’ to himself and glancing off to the side before smiling at me.

“Have you tried meditation?” blinking at the sudden topic change, I shake my head yet again.

“Every time I tried I’ve fallen asleep.” I admit sheepishly. I blink again and the world was grey once again, my eyes dart around widening at the sight of a red, smoky trail that passed right through us. “D-Danny . . . can we move?” I say shakily, getting onto my feet, he follows suit.

“Sure, but why—” as soon as we were a good distance away from where we were sitting, a giant piece of burning metal lands, throwing sand up into the air. The other beach goers begin to panic as other shards of whatever was destroyed rains down onto the beach. His eyes widened before they looked over at me. “That was . . . amazing! Did your sight show you that was going to land?”

“Yes,” I answered slowly, rubbing my arm anxiously, the grey slowly fading away to color. “Are you alright?” he asks before squinting up to the skies.

“Yeah . . . but what _was_ that?” I look across the now deserted beach, the wailing of sirens echoing in the distance.    

“We should probably go,” I suggest, picking up my flats that landed a few feet away. “No use in sticking around right?”

 

                                                                                  ***

 

After the . . . ‘excitement’ we both decide to move over to the park for some peace and quiet. That and the amusement park had to be closed down due to sudden safety hazards. Turns out that that the shrapnel that landed was caused by a ‘satellite exploding’, right . . . it’s probably just some cover up.

When we finally found a peaceful secluded spot Danny suggested in giving meditation a try, I was a bit skeptic but I couldn’t resist when he stared hopefully at me. ~~It was too cute.~~

“First off, get comfortable,” he explained taking off his flip-flops and untying his sweater from around his waist. “Sit however you feel like.” After taking off my shoes (again) and dusting the ground I decide on crossing my legs since it didn’t make my legs fall asleep as quickly.

Danny decides on the same and he sits down about a foot away in front of me. “Try to keep your back straight and just breathe, relax your body and clear your mind.” I begin breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly, staring at the space between us.

“Do I have to close my eyes?”

“Not if you don’t want to, but it helps.” He says simply, letting his eyes flutter shut. I do the same and let my mind wander with his voice as a guide. “Focus on your breath and tune out any outside noise.”

A cool breeze passed through the trees, sending a delightful shiver up my spine. I focus on my breathing, letting my mind clear. I had to admit, this was the most relaxed I’ve been in a while; who knew meditation could actually work? I quickly took a peak at the blonde; his profile the definition of serene, eyes closed with a small smile donning his lips. For a guy, he has amazingly clear skin, free of any marks or bumps and he has a powerful lean build with strong arms and large hands.

_I can see why so many of the girls are crazy about him._ I mentally note, closing my eyes with his image hazy behind my eyelids. _He’s nice, good-looking, helpful and not to mention patient._ I inwardly smirk at how well he took my driving skills in the bumper cars. _He has nice eyes too . . . kind of like a teal, and a cute smile—_ I hit the brakes on my train of thought—getting a little _too_ crush-y here. We’re just _friends_ nothing more. Now back to business.

I focus on my breathing again, clearing my mind and honing in on my nameless ability. Visualizing the sensation of it when it’s activated, I picture all of my friends in my normal vision then one by one they began to glow with a blue light.

It’s easy for a moment before their images began to blur and I feel myself shift; like the ground was slipping beneath me and I was looking out through someone else’s eyes. They were pushing themselves though a roaring crowd, heading to the front and when he finally reaches it; the view of three men hanging from nooses greets them

“ _FATHER!_ ”    

I open my eyes with a scream, scooting back into the trunk of the tree and trying in vain to steady my rapidly beating heart. My breaths came out in ragged pants and I can barely register Danny’s voice trying to soothe my now frazzled nerves. I break out in a cold sweat, my body shivering despite the warm weather and I could feel tears prickling at the corners of my eyes. I try my best to form some sort of words but I can’t, all that escapes me is a broken sob.

The expectant faces of that crowd . . . the way they smiled and cheered and _hungered_ for the death of those two men and that little boy. Somewhere in my heart I know they were innocent, that they didn’t deserve that kind of death and the sadness that the person whom I experienced it through nearly choked me.

I don’t know how long I sat there head bowed, arms hugging myself and bawling but I could feel a faint warmth around my shoulders and when I open my eyes I was greeted with darkness. _The sun must have set_ . . . I look up taking note of Danny’s still form beside me. He wasn’t asleep, but he was staring off into the distance with a troubled frown.

“Danny?” I call out to him hoarsely, my throat raw. He snapped his head to me with a look of relief.

“Ari . . .” he breathed his hands gripping my shoulders gently, _I’m wearing his sweater?_ “How are you . . . I mean, are you alright?” I nod, rubbing my swollen eyes. I must have looked like such a mess.

“I saw . . . something . . . like a vision.” I explain to him what I saw, nearly breaking out into tears again when I recall the bulging eyes of those three. His brow furrows and unexpectedly, he embraced me. I was a bit rigid at first, but I slowly melted into his arms, enjoying the comfort. I could feel my lip quivering again but he quelled it when he began tracing soothing circles on my lower back.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, his breath tickling my ear. I pull away, looking up at him with questioning eyes.

“For what?”

“If I hadn’t . . .” he begins, but I shake my head, holding his sweater closer to me.

“It wasn’t your fault, how could we have known?” I sniffle.

“ . . . It’s still such a horrible thing to see . . . are you sure you’re alright?”

“Shaken,” I choked out with a laugh. I run a shaky hand through my hair, pressing my free hand to my eyes. “If anything I should be the one apologizing, my little breakdown ruined our day –”

 

_Auditore_

 

I pause at the whisper in the wind, taking in a sharp breath.

“Ari?”

“I’m fine,” I sigh, massaging my temples. “But if I start screaming again, you have permission to knock me out.” I half-joke, causing him to frown. “Seriously, I’m f-fine. Ignore the stutter, it’s just because I’m cold.” I argue stubbornly crossing my arms and it reminded me of our embrace a few moments ago, I blush.

“If you say so . . .” he answered but still unconvinced. We made our way slowly to the train station and made it back to my apartment in one peace without any random visions of whatever the heck that was. I take in a slow breath, as I take out my keys and unlocked my front door.

“I’m sorry about today, because of my freak out . . .” I trail off, unable to look him in the eye again.

“Don’t apologize, you don’t have any reason to,” he smiles understandingly, sliding his hands casually into his pockets. “Though I am worried about what you saw. If it happens again just give me a call, okay?”

“Riding to my rescue, eh?” I joke tiredly, faintly realizing I was full on wearing his sweater. Clearing my throat, I quickly slip it off, missing the warmth and his scent for a moment.

"H-here; I kind of forgot I had it on,” I say sheepishly.

“Don’t worry about it.”

_This would make twice that he’s helped me . . ._ I think, frowning inwardly.“But I feel like I should make it up to you somehow . . . I’m not used to owing someone.” I pout, forgetting my previous embarrassment. I was always a tad bit competitive, a trait my mom said I picked up from my father.

“Really Ari, it’s okay. If it were me, you would have done the same."

“You’re rather confident in that statement aren’t you?” he nods, “Okay you got me, I’m just a big ol’ softie.” I laugh, sliding my hair out of eyes again. “Anyway I want to thank you for today, despite what happened towards the end. I had a lot a fun!”

“I did too, maybe we can do it again sometime?” my eyes widen for a moment before I turn and look down to the floors to hide another blush. How many times had that _been_ already?

“Y-yeah, when you and everyone else isn’t busy in detention,” I joke. “But who knows? Maybe I like boys with a little bad streak?” I manage to lift my head to meet his gaze and quickly placed a kiss on his cheek. “It’s something my mom used to do as a thank-you, so don’t think of it as anything weird okay?” I utter quietly, my face burning.

The blond looked a bit surprised, lips parted slightly before a knowing smirk graced his lips.

“Sure,” he says right before tucking my fringe behind my ear. “You have pretty eyes, you shouldn’t hide them.” Biting my lip I stutter a thanks before bidding him goodnight.

When his form disappeared down the staircase, I step into my apartment and slumped to the ground, face now bright red.

“What the hell was that?!” I yell more at myself as I place both hands over my face. I kissed him! I mean I know it was on the cheek, but _still_! It wasn’t a date damn it, so there wasn’t a need for me to do . . . that! I stand up, slapping my cheeks with my hands. “Snap out of it, me. It wasn’t anything, so don’t think anything of it. Monday will be normal, and I won’t be a blubbering mess around him. Just play it cool and . . .” Oh no. Peter was starting to rub off on me . . . talking to myself like this . . .

With a huff, I head to the showers, fully intended on going straight to sleep to forget about that weird vision I had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors note:
> 
> Jeez this chapter was long . . . well it’s longer than the one I posted earlier at least. I felt bad for missing a week so here’s an extra chapter! :D  
> Now, on to the notes! If you haven’t guessed it by now, the game I was referring to was indeed Assassin’s Creed. I wrote this back when there was only one female Assassin as lead and had this idea on how it would be like if they ever came across people like SHIELD. Again, it won’t really center too much on the game. This chapter wasn’t too bad to edit, but I can’t re-check it at the moment so if you see any mistakes, apologies!  
> At least we had a little non-date date thing though, right? I personally feel pacing wise it was a little too soon, but that will be cleared up . . . soon-ish. I’ve read a lot of Danny/OC stories back in the days of Quizilla and I was always itching for just a little one-on-one interaction with the OC and Danny without the danger of a mission or the interruption of the others. The next chapter will be based around the episode ‘Why I Hate Gym’, which I thought was fun to write. We also get a little glimpse in to Ari’s past, how fun!  
> Hope you all enjoyed! Have a fantastic day/night/afternoon, not in that particular order!  
> \--MissHattress


	4. Fury

I blearily make my way through the throngs of students on my way to the cafeteria. Ever since those villains attacked the school a few weeks ago, the school has amped up the security and that severely cut down on my sleep time since that meant they closed the school gates earlier too. Not only that, but people have been super paranoid about a student going to our school being Spider-Man. 

Four hours of sleep, training for the new Aigile performance, weird dreams after that day in the park and now this . . . I let out a tired sigh, rubbing my eyes. Stupid early morning assembly . . . when I enter, I looked around for MJ and Harry knowing Peter was going to be late and head for them. I spot Ava and the boys before I do, stopping by their table with a smile.

“Morning gals and pals, how goes the day?” I greet them with a two fingered salute. 

“’Gals and pals?’” Luke muses with a quirk of his brow.

“Blame my lack of witty greetings on my lack of sleep.” I yawn.

“Got that right, you look horrible Ari.” Sam not-so-tactfully points out, I send him a dark glare and whack him across the head with my text book. “Ow!”

“Lack of sleep also makes me a bit more prone to violence, Sammy.” I voice darkly as he gulps and scoots away from me.

“Maybe you should try taking it easy; can’t Madam Paola give you a few days off?” Danny inquires. I shake my head.

“I would if I could, but this month’s performance is really important to Aigile, I can’t let her down like that.”

“What if you pass out during your performance, or maybe here at school?” Ava chastises, giving me one of her stern looks. 

“That’s . . . a good point.” I sigh as MJ waves me over, “I’ll think about it, okay?” with that, I make my way over to the red head and as soon as I sit down I fold my arms and let my head rest against them on the table. 

“Ari . . ?” MJ trails off worriedly, I lazily open one eye to look at her.

“Sorry, just really tired.” I mumble, “Wake me when the principal starts yammering, yeah?” without waiting for her to respond, I doze off.

_A shadow silently whisks themselves on the rooftops, shouts of protest against his presence buzzing in the background. The city below him was quiet and dimly lit by the fires of the streetlamps that illuminate the roads. Seeing a large gap coming up ahead of him, a smirk tilts his lips as he accelerates and leaps. The blood red shoulder cape billows behind him before he lands on the tips of his toes and crouches, rolling to the other lower side and looking back at the archers that were chasing him._

_“Uccidilio!” One of the men ordered but he’s too fast. As soon as one of the arrows was sent, he was off again as it embedded itself into the tiles. The fleeing man continued to skit in the shadows until he felt it was safe enough to stop and get his bearings._

_He spots a tower and decides that was to be the perfect spot. Latching onto a cavity in the brickwork, he scales the walls, grabbing onto jutting bricks and thin metal poles that were latched on to the tower. In minutes he hoists himself up onto the roost-like structure and gazes down at the city below, making a mental map of the area._

_Standing with an unnatural grace he leaps, arms spread wide and landing on his back on a pile of hay. He emerges from the cart, blending into the crowd as he make his way to a three story brick building, flourished with red banners and flowers. He knocks three times before entering and inside it was lavishly decorated with hues of red and purple, giving the room a kind of sensual feel. A woman in a beautiful maroon dress greets him as he pulls back his hood, revealing sharp hazel eyes._

_“The deed is done.” he murmurs lowly._

I’m pulled out of my dream by a nudging at my side. I blink my eyes open, meeting the sky blue eyes of Peter.

“Took the liberty of waking you, have a nice nap?” he smiles. I rub my eyes, feeling a tad bit more refreshed and I stretch my arms above my head.

“Had a weird dream . . .” I utter, my voice thick with sleep. “But yeah, what did I miss?”

“We were just talking about who Spider-Man could be.” MJ says.

“You guys should totally help me spread the rumor it’s me.” Harry says leaning in. “Girls love heroes.” He grins with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“It probably is you Harry; those webs he squirts must be pretty expensive.” The red head notes; wiggling her pink nail polished fingers for effect.

The body build isn’t quite the same . . . I think, judging from what I’ve seen on television, at least. But I would lie if I said I wasn’t at least a little curious too. I glance over at Peter. It’s a long shot, but maybe . . .

“MJ, Spider-Man doesn’t squirt, he shoots, and I don’t think it’s a good idea for anyone to pose as him—” he’s cut off as the big blonde gorilla known as Flash somehow manages to knock him off of his seat without knocking MJ or me off. I frown at his presence.

“Speaking of squirts.” he sneers down at Peter who immediately stands to face him, but before he could utter a word Principle Coulson intervenes.

“Parker, Thompson, pay attention.” He says pointedly before continuing. “Your gym teacher, Mr. Moleskin will be out due to an accident after the game last night.” A tall muscular man wearing a grey shirt with the sleeves ripped off and a pair of black (way too short) shorts stands beside him, grinning widely. “Mr. Yeager will be your substitute until further notice.”

“I’m looking forward to unlocking your . . . hidden abilities.” He says, taking a few steps forward and scanning the crowd. I quirk a brow, for some reason that sounded a bit . . . odd, like it was double sided. Shrugging it off, the principle dismissed us to go on to our next class. We all spilt ways going to our assigned classrooms as Danny falls in to step with me.

“Feeling better?” he asks, hands in his front pockets.

“A little, I’m not cranky anymore at least so Sam should be safe.” I snicker.

“I’m sure he’ll be relieved at the news.” he laughs. “But seriously, you have to rest up Ari. We’re all worried about you; we don’t want anything happening to you.” I look away with a small blush.

“Thank you . . . for worrying, but really I’m okay.”

“You’ll talk to Madam Paola?”

“Cross my heart.” I smile.

 

The day seems to blur together and I manage to catch a few naps in between classes for a change with no more strange dreams of which I’m glad for. Before I know it gym had arrived and I’m changing into my uniform in the girl’s locker room.

“Ari, you are so lucky . . .” MJ pouts as I turn to her with a questioning gaze. “You have a killer bod!”

“Well considering I am a performer it’s kind of normal.” I laugh, tugging my thick hair into a ponytail. “Besides I have to follow a really strict diet plan too, I only snack a few times a week.” She pokes my stomach with a blank look on her face.

“Hard as a rock . . .” she mumbles.

“Quit it, you’re not so bad yourself Miss Watson or should I say Mary Jane ‘long legs’ Watson?” her cheeks burn a little pink as she slaps my arm. 

“Don’t start with that, I thought I left that name behind last semester!” she gripes as we step outside. We were a bit early so a few of the students were warming up or just sitting around until Mr. Yeager arrives. Off to the side I spot what looked to be an obstacle course that looks like it just came fresh out of a military training camp. 

Figures he was in the army . . . “I call the hula-hoop!” I call out, snatching it from the bin.

“I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who—” MJ begins but before she could finish her sentence, a rather burly boy passed by, hula-hooping away with a fierce look of concentration on his visage. “Never mind . . .” 

I slip the hoop over my head, resting it on my side as I begin to rotate my hips. “MJ can you throw me another one?” she blinks a bit before tilting her head.

“Uh, are you sure?” I give her a thumbs up and with a shrug, she lifts another one and tosses it. Her aim is a bit off, but stepping to the side I manage to catch it so that it was swinging around me with the first one. A few of the other students looked in some impressed and others smiling at my antics.

Bringing smiles to the people I perform in front of . . . is what I like doing the best. 

“Liking the way you move Kateri!” Flash calls out, wolf whistling along with his goons and it took all I had not to flash him my favorite finger.   
With my mood officially ruined, I get an idea. I hop a bit so the first one falls off and I bump it harmlessly off to the side. Grinning wickedly to myself, I mimicked the action with the second one, rotating it with my leg but this time I make sure the hoop hopped up a bit and launch it with my foot to hit him square in the forehead, knocking him back onto his butt.

“Oops! I’m sorry did that hit your face Flash?” I apologize sweetly, “I guess I kicked it a little too hard.” I say flatly turning on my heel to pick up the one that I dropped.

“I’m not usually one to resort to violence, but that was a pretty good shot.” MJ nods as his goons help him up.

“I tried to hold back.” I shrug. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t hit him that hard . . . I think.” A whistle, this time one that sounded impressed catches our attention. We turn to see Luke and the others, walking over to us.

“Hate to say it, but he had it coming.”

“I hold no objections to any statements, Luke.” I grin.

“I just wish I got it on camera!” Sam sighs, wiping a tear from his eye since he was too busy laughing.

“Two shots in one day, eh?” Danny remarks.

“I’m on a roll!” I look up at his forehead and narrow my eyes. “What’s wrapped around your head?”

“It’s a sweatband!” 

I blink, pulling at it a bit before shrugging. “No offence, but for a minute I thought you were injured . . .”

“None taken, does it look bad?”

“Nah, you somehow manage to pull it off.”

“Thanks,” he smiles, his eyes locking onto my ponytail. “I like what you did with your hair.” Fortunately the others are still chatting about the hula-hoop incident to hear our little exchange.

“U-um, thank you. It’s only a ponytail though . . .” I say, playing with it and averting my eyes from his. My brain decides now would be a good time to think of the day at the amusement park, when he had said I had nice eyes.

“True, but you’re usually hiding behind your hair, it’s a nice change.” The blowing of a whistle (this time it was an actual one) quiets everyone down as Coach Yeager tossed a bright red ball up and down into the air.

“As you can see, today’s game is Dodge ball. I want you to split up into teams of two. Thompson, Osborn, you’re the captain. Pick your teams and face off.” he instructs as the two stood in front. They choose their teams and luckily (and by that I mean a bit of silent arguing with Harry) we end up playing with Danny and the others on our team.

As soon as the game starts, I can tell Flash was trying to get back at me for completely owning his butt by trying to hit me especially hard with the ball. I inwardly scoff, as if! I dodge to the side to let it bounce off the wall and catch it to launch it back to his teammate. He glares at me and I waved back with a smirk. He returns one of his own and readies another ball.

“Dodge ball!” he shouts out for some reason, throwing the ball way off to my right. I turn and winced as Peter got a face full of rubber. I would word it differently but either way it would sound perverse. “You lose!” he laughs as Ava walks over to the whiz kid. I roll my eyes as coach blows the whistle again, signaling us all to group up. 

“For this part of the class, I’m looking for finalist to compete in the city wide Athletic Achievement Contest,” he begins as he paces in front of us. “I want to see all of you give it your all, don’t give me anything less than one-hundred and ten percent!” he pauses before pointing at our resident bully. “Thompson, go!” the gorilla puffs up his chest, stepping away from the line.

“I’ll show you how it’s done!” 

After he went, Ava was up next followed by Danny then Harry and Sam then Luke. They all passed rather well, up until Luke got stuck in the swinging tires because of  
his size. Peter was up next and after a . . . interesting display of his physical abilities coach decided not to even bother with his assessment and calls me up.

“Go get ‘em Ari!” MJ cheers. I give her a thumbs up, followed by a grin as I stretch to limber up.

“Go!” coach shouts. Climbing the wall was a cinch and as I reach the top I prepare to jump off when my vision suddenly doubles and I can feel myself falling off the side. A flash of yellow and a white was the last thing I could remember seeing before I black out. 

_Running._

_The man from my dreams was running again, hood down and behind him is an unconscious or dead man leaning on the corner of a wagon. The man from my dreams is rather handsome, with dark hair tied back in a low ponytail and dark stubble on his chin. His eyes, ever sharp are narrowed in concentration._

_His black robes billows behind him as he sprints through a town, pushing through the crowds of civilians, stumbling here and there as he approaches a group of men chasing a beautiful woman dark haired woman._

_“Ezio!” She shouts out to him._

_“Christina, run!” he cries out, aiming his bracer to one of her attackers and shoots him down with a bullet. She continues running as Ezio takes down another with his hidden blade. He follows after her, shooting down another guard that was tailing him. He chases down the last of her attackers, unsheathing his sword as the two begin to clash but Ezio has the upper hand in experience and ends the man’s life with a hole in his gut. He put away his sword to go to the kneeling woman, who is holding her side, her skin ashen._

_“Cristina . . .” he picks her up carefully, supporting her body with his strong arms, mindful of her wounds.  
She looks up at him through glazed dark brown eyes. “Ezio . . ?” she lets out a soft cry of pain as he shushes her._

_“Hold on, I’ll get you to a doctor . . . you’re going to be alright.” He assures her calmly, but his eyes are panicked, showing his distress._

_“No . . . Ezio . . . I don’t think I am . . .” he sets her down, holding her close._

_“No!” tears begin to prick at the corners of his eyes. ”Don’t . . . don’t go, stay with me, please! Christina . . .” she smiles up at him, placing a gentle hand on his cheek._

_“Oh Ezio . . . I’ve always been with you.” She gestures to her necklace and gingerly takes the memento in his hands, a look of recollection sparking in his eyes._

_“You still have it . . .” she gasps then, as her eyes began to dim._

_“I wish . . . I wish we could have had . . . a second . . . chance . . .” she whimpers as he smooths her hair back. She leans into his touch as her eyes slide shut and her body goes limp, a final breath escaping her lips. Setting his lips into a thin line, he slides a hand over her face, his voice think with tears and a heart drowning in sadness._

_“Requiescat en pace . . . my love . . .” he clutches her tighter, kissing her forehead and rocking her as he silently weeps._

 

A bright light wakes me up from another memory and I turn to see the sunlight streaming from the windows of the infirmary. I sit up, brushing my fingers against my eyes for them to come back wet. My eyes widen at the discovery and the curtain that separated me from the other beds slides back slowly to reveal Danny, his eyes shining with worry at my crying state. 

I quickly wipe my eyes in vain as the tears wouldn’t stop as he makes his way over to me, taking my hand I didn’t realized I was outstretching, and quietly letting the tears run their course. I hiccup, holding my free hand to my forehead. Was this how Ezio felt? His love . . . I remember seeing her in some of my other dreams and  
God this . . . this was too much . . . this pain was too much.

“It’s okay Ari . . . just let it out . . .” he murmurs softly, rubbing soothing circles on my palm. I nod to show I’m listening.

“T-thank y-you . . .” I manage to stutter, as he gives me a tender smile. When I finally calm down, I breathe in a big gulp of air, thankful that I didn’t feel my face puff up. 

“Better?”

“Better.” I sniffle. “But embarrassed. You always manage to catch me whenever I’m an emotional wreck.” 

“I don’t mind it one bit, to be honest. Not that I like to see you cry but . . .” I blink, tilting my head to the side but he just shakes off whatever he was just about to say. “Never mind, so what happened? Everyone freaked when you passed out.” I remember the flash of blond I saw when I was falling and my face pales.

“Please don’t tell me Flash caught me . . .” he laughs at my expression, shaking his head.

“No, I did.”

“Thank God . . .” I sigh in relief, leaning back against the metal headboard. “Thank you, again then. I’m really starting to owe you a lot . . .” 

“Don’t mention it, and don’t think of it that way, if it bothers you.” He says tucking a lock of my hair behind my ear, leaving a tingling sensation on my cheek where his fingers brushed my skin. “So what happened? The only time I’ve seen you like this was when you saw that vision in the park.”

“It was the same this time . . . except this time, the man in my vision, Ezio . . . he lost the love of his life . . .” I furrow my brows, staring at the wall straight ahead.

“ . . . You saw it all?” 

I nod, absentmindedly placing hand over my heart. “The loss of a loved one . . . it’s hard to explain but his sadness was lingering, almost as if something withered inside him when he lost her. . .”

“That kind of pain . . . is hard to deal with, but, time heals all wounds and we can’t let ourselves linger on the past or else we’ll lose ourselves to it.”

“My mom used to say something along the lines of that.” I say, suddenly aware that his hand is still holding mine. He must have noticed too and slowly releases his hold, looking away and running a hand through his hair, his cheeks a very slight pink. “So, how did everyone do on the course? Obviously I didn’t make the cut, right?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Harry, Flash and I have to come in tomorrow . . .” he utters lowly, obviously not happy with coming in on a Saturday.

“That sucks man . . . how about afterwards I stop by and bring over some snacks? If you like milk pudding I know this really good place and—“

“Ari,” he interrupts. “You passed out today because of exhaustion. What you need to do is rest.”

“Madam Paola will probably give me a good lecture on my health too . . .” I say lowly, already dreading the phone call. 

“MJ already called, and explained the situation. You have the next five days free, so use it to relax.”

I pout a little, going over the loss in my head. “That’s a week’s pay . . . I guess I can use my vacation days.”

“That a girl, don’t strain yourself.”

“I still want to bring snacks; you and Harry will probably be starving by the time you get out.” I say, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Okay, okay, but after wards you have to go straight home. It’s going to be hot tomorrow and the last thing we need is you passing out from heatstroke.”

“You’re starting to sound like MJ,” I laugh. “So did I sleep through the rest of school?” he nods, leaning back in his seat.

“You did, I just got back from my last class.” Just then the curtain pulls away again to reveal three familiar figures, worry coloring their faces.

“Ari!” MJ gasps, running over to wrap me in a tight hug. “Do you have any idea how worried we were?!” she demands, sending me a stern glare.

“Yeah and I’m sorry. I really did feel fine in the morning . . .”

“I’m just glad Rand here managed to catch you.” Harry says sincerely, patting the blond on the shoulder.

“The blue padding didn’t exactly seem soft enough to fall face first into.” Peter remarks, sending him a thankful nod.

“Thanks again, Danny.” I smile, turning my head to face him.

“I brought your clothes from your locker.” MJ says handing me my bag and my neatly folded clothes. She must have done it since I just shove my stuff in.

“Thank you, MJ! The last thing I need is walking home in my gym uniform . . .” I cringe.

“We’ll leave you alone to change, c’mon boys.” She voices as they begin to file out. Swinging my feet over the bed, I slip off my shorts, pulling on my pants and changing my shirt. There was a fairly sized mirror beside the bed and I groan at my reflection. 

“Severe bed head . . .” digging into my bag, I pull out my brush and run it though my hair to make it look at least somewhat presentable. Stepping out from behind the curtain, I hook my bag around my shoulder and bid the nurse goodbye, thanking her for letting my friends visit. It was going to be a long week, but I kind of looked forward to relaxing a bit. Maybe now I could hang out with the others instead of just goofing around for a few hours and then heading off to work.

 

The following morning, I wake up especially early to keep my promise to Danny (and Harry too!) and walk the few blocks from the bakery to the school. It was a little before noon so they most likely would be getting out soon, but I hadn’t heard a word from him so I decide to get there to a bit early to see what was up. Along with the milk puddings, I bought a few other pastries and freshly baked meat filled patties for Harry and spinach and feta ones for Danny. 

Walking up to the gates of the school I reach out, about to grab onto them to hoist myself up over it until I hear a slight humming sound. I pause looking around the ground for something to throw when I spot a small rock. I toss it into the gate and step back with a gasp as it comes back charred.

“What the . . . why the heck is it electrified?” I ask no one. Now that my curiosity is piqued I secure my bag to hang closer to my hip and make sure the zipper and flap is securely locked. I run a few paces back and run at the gate jumping and flipping over the bars, my hand almost brushing the metal poles. I landed in a roll, taking care to not crush the snacks. 

I throw another nearby pebble at the doors to see if anything was wired but fortunately it was good to go. I slowly opened the front doors, peaking into the dark hallways and sneaking in. Never thought I would be doing this . . . I inwardly think, keeping my eyes peeled for anything suspicious and moving forward. 

Everything is extremely creepy, what with the darkness and all. Deciding it was best to use my special vision, I’m surprised to find different points of the floors and walls highlighted in red. I look down to see my foot a mere centimeters away from a booby trap. I step away slowly, going for the clear path that leads around the corner. 

It’s a bit challenging, seeing as I had to use a bit of what I learned from the Cirque to get through but up ahead I spot a door that was shining with an eerie green light. Part of me knew that in most movies I’ve seen, it never led to anything good but I ignored that nagging little voice in my head and take a peek inside.

“Principle Coulson?” I twitch, at the sight. He’s hanging upside down over a glowing green tub of noxious looking goop.

In nothing but his underwear.

That was an image I will never get out of my mind . . .

“What—Kateri?! What are you doing here, do you have any idea how much danger you’re in?!”

“No offence, but I’m not the one hanging over a tub of . . . whatever that is. What’s going on? The fence is electrified and the school is completely rigged!” I say as his eyes widen.

“Did you get hurt?”

“No, I . . . avoided them. What about the students who are with Coach Yeager? Are they okay?” I ask eagerly.

“I don’t know, I was knocked out but that’s not the problem here. You are in serious danger here and you need to get out!”

“Not without Harry, Danny and—reluctantly—Flash.” Without another word I leave, heading straight for the gym. In my rush I step on a loose tile and get a sinking feeling in my stomach as a pike launches itself at me from a locker. I yelp and do a handspring to avoid getting skewered, two more shoot at me and I dive to the floor, rolling into a safe spot. 

I could feel my heart racing in my chest as I catch my breath, I look back to access the damage and feel a chill go down my spine at the ruined walls.

“Holy . . .” I gulp, standing and getting my bearings to move forward despite the creeping sense of fear that began to worm its way into my mind. If the school was rigged . . . that means that the others could be caught up in a trap . . . 

Up ahead was a full block of red with no path through it, except . . .

I hop to the side, launching myself off the wall to leap to the clear point. At times like these, I’m glad I decided to take those gymnastic classes Madam Paola insisted on. I run past a corridor and instantly back track to see a flash of blue. I let out a gasp as I spot Danny on the ground, unmoving.

“Oh God . . .” I rush over to him, the front part of the hallway he was facing blocked by a metal wall with an eagle on it. “D-Danny?” I stutter, flipping him over on to his back. He’s breathing which was a relief as I let out a breath. I smack his face lightly, trying to get him to come to and was rewarded with a pained groan. 

“Ari . . ?” he grunts as I help him up into a sitting position.

“What happened?”

“I was knocked out by a guy in a mask . . .” There’s been a lot of that going around. “What are you doing here?” he asks rubbing his head with a wince. 

“I was worried.” I frown. “The whole school has gone wonky! And Principle Coulson was hanging upside down from his feet over green goop in his underwear and I almost got skewered and I think I crushed the chocolate conch I was saving for later!” I let out all at once. He quirks a brow at my rambling. “Sorry for yammering, I’m nervous . . .”

“It’s okay. Wait . . . are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.” He gently takes my chin and tilts my head to the side.

“You’re bleeding.” I was? I brush my fingers against my temple and wince. Looking down at them, they’re are stained a dark red

“I didn’t notice . . . but it seemed to have stopped. Are the others okay?”

“I don’t know, while I was fighting that guy I had to push them underneath that wall to let them escape.” I nod, standing and helping him up to his feet. “It’s too dangerous to go after them now, what we have to do is escape.”

“We can’t just leave them to fend for themselves, Danny, they could get hurt—or worse!”

“He was looking for Spider-Man, and I have a feeling he’ll be showing up soon.” 

I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “How do you know that?” there was the sound of an explosion above us and I pale.

“Spider-Man, watch out!” I can hear a voice shout before there was another blast.

“Okay, good call. Can you move okay?”

“I think so, aside from a killer headache I’ll live.” I give him a crooked smile gesturing for him to follow my lead.

“Have to say that unique vision you have really comes in handy in situations like these. You know, if it happened often.”

“Luckily it doesn’t, eh?” I grin, suddenly feeling a bit woozy. I shake it away, focusing on avoiding the various red splotches. “Watch out for that spot there and on the wall to your right.” I say, hiding the fatigue in my voice and hopefully sounding convincing. 

“Ari . . . are you sure you’re okay? You look pale.”

“Y-yeah totally fine! Just a little hungry I guess. But I have to help you through the school, I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you guys.” 

“You—” before he can finish his sentence, the light click back on and all of the red marks disappear. “Looks like Spider-Man did it.” Danny smiles looking up at the ceiling. There’s the sound of rushing footsteps and Principle Coulson rounds the corner this time in a suit along with other officers.

“Thank goodness you’re alright, come with me. There’s an ambulance outside if you’re injured.” He said as Danny and exchange glances.

“Thanks for finding me, Ari, though I wish you wouldn’t put yourself in danger . . .” the blonde says with a thankful smile

“I’m prone to doing stupid things without thinking. Oh!” I reach into my bag, handing him a croissant. “I believed I promised snacks, right?”

“After today, I’m starved.” 

Outside, we are both immediately ushered to the paramedics and thanks to the extra strain from today my blood sugar is low once again. Luckily enough I have food with me, or they would have sent me to the hospital right then and there. They also treated my forehead and checked Danny out for any injuries and aside from a bump on the head he was fine.

“I guess that headband could come in handy now huh?” he jokes as I grin, chewing on a ham and cheese croissant. “I’m going to go talk to the Principal, will you be okay?”

“Yup!” I reply, swinging my feet from my seat at the back of the ambulance van. With an amused smile, he hops off, heading towards him. I stare down at my feet, sipping on some tea a paramedic named Donna gave to me. 

I still don’t understand what went on here today . . . and there wasn’t any sign of Mr. Yeager here either. Something’s off, why was the school so wired up, anyway? 

Why does our school need that kind of high tech gear? I think of the eagle that was engraved onto the wall.

Wait . . . that symbol! I’ve seen is somewhere before, but where? 

“Miss Kateri, do you mind if I have a word with you?” a pair of black boots appear in front of me and I blink looking up at a trench coat clad man. His head is clean shaven and he sports a goatee, his left eye was covered by an eye patch as he stares down at me with a serious expression. I gulp, immediately feeling nervous in front of this man.

“Y-yes?”

“My name is Nick Fury; during the time your school was closed we caught your little stunt on our monitoring systems when we regained control.” I jump a bit at the glare he sends me,

“Uh, well you see sir, I—”

“I’m not interested in your excuses,” I shut my mouth, sitting up straight for some reason.

“Am . . . am I in some kind of trouble?” I whimper, gripping my cup. He’s silent, just staring down at me before his lips tilted in a slight smirk. I think.

“Those are definitely the eyes.” 

I blink, confused. “H-Huh?”

“You are far from trouble, Miss Kateri. Although breaking into a school is considered a crime . . . I’d like to know if I can interest you in a . . . proposition. Have you heard of SHEILD?” it’s then when the image of the eagle on the wall flashes in my mind.

“That’s it! It’s that military organization that people are talking about! Everybody knows about it, but not what they do!” I exclaim, standing up at my revelation. He raises a brow at me and I blush and sit back down. “Sorry . . . but what of this proposition?”

“I’d like to invite you to a special program I’m running, in training heroes with potential.”

“H-Heroes?!” I squeak. “Sir, I don’t think I’m—”

“Oh but you are, I’ve seen what you can do. I’ve also seen what you can do at your Cirque and I promise you if you agree you’ll be training with the best, the ultimate.”

“But . . .” there is a blur of red and blue and when I blink Spider-Man is standing beside us. 

“Director Fury, what seems to be the issue here?” he asks in a deep voice, obviously trying too hard to disguise it.

“He wants me . . . to join the hero program . . .” I say, looking down at the ground in uncertainty. But why?

“What?!” his voice cracks but he quickly composes himself. “Fury I don’t know what you’re thinking but she’s just a high-schooler! She can’t just jump into this, it’s too dangerous!”

“She has what it takes, Spider-Man. So what do you say?” I finally look up, setting my mouth into a thin line.

“No.” my response didn’t seem to catch him by surprise, but my hunch was that he always kept that poker face on. “Spider-Man is right, it’s too dangerous . . .”

“That was a halfhearted response.” he scoffs as Spider Man glared at him.

“Don’t listen to him, you made the right choice.” Director Fury turns on his heel, his coat flapping behind him. 

“What if I gave you the information you’ve been looking for these past few years?” he says looking over his shoulder at me.

“Information? About what?” Spider-Man asks taking the words out of my mouth.

“ . . . Kele Kateri.” I feel my body go rigid as the cup I’m holding slips past my fingers.

“Hey . . .” I feel myself stand glaring at the director.

“How . . . do you know about him?” I practically growl, scowling at the man who seems satisfied with my reaction.

“There are those eyes,” he murmurs. “Are you interested now, Miss Kateri?” I sink my nails into my palms, drawling blood.

“You didn’t answer my question, Director.” I state eerily calm despite my hostile appearance.

“We’ve done some investigating on Kele Kateri’s whereabouts, but I only reveal information to agents—”

“I’ll do it.” I quickly reply, much to Spider-Man’s dismay.

“You don’t know what you’re getting into, A—young lady!” he bellows. “Fury, this isn’t playing fair!”

“Last time I checked it wasn’t your decision, Spider-Man.” He shoots back, and then he turns to me. “I’ll contact you soon.”

“Right.” I nod as he walks away, I turn my stare to the ground, feeling my fists shake at my sides.

“Hey, are you sure that was—” I slide my eyes to him, cutting him off and I can feel his discomfort. I slowly unclenched my fingers, ugly, bright red, crescent indents marring my palm as I place the back of my hand over my eyes.

“Sorry, I made you uncomfortable . . . but it’s my decision and I’m doing it.” I say lowly, sitting back down. His little outburst back there drew the attention of the others and I can barely see Danny and Harry making their way over to us.

“No, no, it’s alright; but do you mind if I ask who this person is that could make you join something so dangerous?” I grit my teeth, taking in a deep breath to calm myself down.

“That man abandoned us when we needed him . . .” I mutter resting my forearms on my thighs and staring down at my hands. Blood was slowly trickling from my wounds, but I can’t feel the sting as I feel it boil in my veins. 

“Abandoned . . ?”

“That man . . . that bastard my mother never lost faith in even up until she died. That man who didn’t even show up to his own wife’s funeral . . . is my father.”

[1] “Kill him!”

Authors Note:

Chapter four done! Finally we have a little bit more info on Ari, too! Sorry if anyone gets a little impatient with me on revealing more about her but . . . learning too much all at once tends to be a little overwhelming, right? I’m looking forward to showing you guys what makes her tick. =D   
This chapter wasn’t as bad to edit as my previous ones, but the next one . . . is going to take some work. There’s a few scenes I might have to completely cut or re-write and just thinking about it is giving me a headache. These first few chapters I think spanning on to chapter . . . five, I think are just stepping stones in to the main plot I have in my mind.   
Thank you lovelies for the views! Just seeing that number jump up just a little bit makes me so happy~ <3 if you guys have any questions please feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability without spoiling it too much!  
Have a wonderful day, love you all!

P.S 

Apologies for the delay in this chapter, life has been pretty crazy since the last update but I assure you I have not abandoned this story! Thank you so much to NachtNight for messaging me! Messages from you all help this unworthy authoress’ soul. 

\--MissHattress


	5. Helicarrier

The next day I wait patiently for Director Fury to contact me; I sit in my living room just staring at the photo of my mother and I before she passed. It was one of her better days and she was feeling up to it so we went on a walk around Central Park. A smile tilts my lips as I recall the carousel and the boat rides we took around the lake.

“ _What the hell? Four dollars for a hotdog—you’re insane!_ ” I laugh a little at how she argued with the vendor. Back then, I tried my best to calm her down and the guy eventually lowered it down to two-seventy five.

“ _I remember when your father took us here on our very first date; the food was cheaper that’s for sure . . ._ ” she said with a disgruntled face, and then she stared out at the flowers from the rock we were sitting on with the softest expression I’ve ever seen.

I shake the memory from my thoughts when there is a knock at my door. Quickly standing, I look though the peep hole to see two people; a dark haired man and a brunette woman dressed in dark blue suits and sunglasses. Either this was the contact that Director Fury was talking about, or the music I’ve downloaded from a ‘free-lance’ website finally caught up with me. Taking a deep breath, I open the door.

“Hello, can I help you?”    

“Miss Kateri, I presume?” the man speaks in a clipped tone that meant nothing but business.

“Yes,” I look from him to the woman but couldn’t really read anything from them. I activate my vision to see them light up in blue so I wouldn’t be following total strangers.

“We’re here to take you to SHIELD headquarters to meet the Director.” He says as I blink at the tense air, a little uncomfortable with just being taken away like this.

“It’s just a normal procedure, you’ll speak with the Director and after that, if you really are interested will go through a little test to see how your far your abilities can go.” The woman speaks up, removing her sunglasses to reveal cool grey eyes. “My name is Ana, this is Agent Benjamin; sorry if he seems a little uptight.” She whispers the last part to me with a wink, slipping her shades back on. I smile a bit, feeling a bit more at ease.

“Thank you, I’ll just get my keys.” I go back inside to grab my things and pause at the picture of my mom’s smiling face. “I’ll find him for you . . . mom.” I whisper before locking the door behind me. My heart was absolutely racing at the thought of finding out about my father and what SHIELD had in store for me.

 

The moment I see the Helicarrier I feel my jaw drop at the sight. It is _massive_ , floating high above the city. How no one else see this, I’ll never know.

“Um, I know I’m going to regret asking this but . . . how are we going to get up there?” Agent Benjamin smirks as Agent Ana holds onto my hand.

“This might make you a little bit sick, okay?” she says, but before I can open my mouth to question it, there was a bright flash of light before we disappear and reappear inside an enormous room.

The walls are made of sturdy looking metal and it seemed to blur before my eyes before I feel a sinking feeling in my stomach.

“Are you okay? It’s pretty tough teleporting the first time around.” Ana says, patting my back lightly in an attempt to make me feel better.

“I’m fine, a little nauseous though . . .” I utter, steadying myself. “Please lead the way.”

“That’s the spirit.” Agent Benjamin says, sounding slightly amused as we proceed to where the Director is; the control room.

After what seemed like an endless walk (Ana tried to make small talk, but I was still feeling a little sick) we finally stop in front of a giant door engraved with an eagle with outstretched wings. I straighten my back, taking in a deep breath. Agent Benjamin saunters over to the door, pressing a few buttons on the door and little panel appears.

“ _D.N.A scan required._ ” A feminine voice orders as he places his hand on to the panel. Agent Ana did the same and soon, they turn to me to do the same.

“Ouch!” I hiss as I feel five simultaneous pokes, one for each finger. I try pulling my hand away, but it wouldn’t let me go!

“It’s placing your code into the system.” Agent Benjamin explains just as soon as the blasted thing releases me.

“ _Genetic material acquired; Aria Nora Kateri recognized_.” I twitch at the mention of my full name but decide to stay silent as the doors slide apart with a silent ‘whoosh’. I stare in awe at the control room, dozens of people stationed around high tech computers and some standing around a large round table with what looked like a holographic map of the city below us.

“Welcome to the Helicarrier, Miss Kateri.” I could hear Agent Benjamin announce as both of them usher me in. “The Director is just up ahead.”

“This is where we leave you with him Ari,” Agent Ana says with a small smile. “We wish you all the best.”

“Thank you, both.” I say with one of my own.

“Right on time, good work you two.” both of them salute as Director Fury steps up to us, arms behind his back.

 

The walk with the Director to . . . wherever he was taking me was a silent one. I follow stiffly behind him through the winding hallways, already losing my mental map of the place before he stops in front of a door.

“During this discussion, I’ll tell you as much as you need to know about your Father, Ari,”

“I’ll keep my end of the deal; I’m not known to break my promises.” I say with a determined nod.

“Keep that in mind during your training.” He muses before the doors slide open before him, revealing a brightly lit space that looked to be a briefing room. A long table sits in the center of the room with a handful of chairs scattered around it. “You’ll be meeting the other trainees soon, but first you have to—” there is a loud commotion outside the doors that interrupts him and in a streak of blue light, the boy with the golden helmet from the day Harry threw his party _flies_ in.

“Hey Fury, I heard a new recruit was coming and I—” his eyes lands on me and gasps, stepping back and pointing a gloved hand over at me in silent surprise. Director Fury sighs, massaging the bridge of his nose.

“ _This_ is one of the trainee’s, Nova. I believe you’ve met?”

“Yes, sir.” I say.

“I was _going_ to have them wait in order to protect your identity, but seeing as Nova so graciously let himself in . . .”

“I don’t mind, Director Fury. If anything I’d like to meet them as I am now if you don’t mind.” He quirks a brow. “If I’m joining their team; it’s only fair that they know the reason why, right?” he seemed amused by my answer as he crossed his arms.

“If you’re sure. Nova, call in the others we’ll begin when everyone is here.”

“Uh, right . . .”

In a matter of minutes, the other heroes who (upon an introduction seemed slightly familiar) I learn to be White Tiger, Power Man and Iron Fist; I had to admit I inwardly snicker when I see him again after the rooftop incident. The only one I recognize at all is Spider-Man and that was just because he’d been around for a year.

“I take it you won’t back out of this now, eh?” he asks sheepishly with a worried edge in his tone.

“Nope,” I grin. “I’d just like to say thank you to you all again for helping us out that night. I don’t know what would have happened if none of you showed up in time.”

“It’s what heroes do.” Nova states smugly, leaning back in his seat.

“Now that the introductions are over and done with,” Fury begins, pressing something on the table so that the lights dimmed and the table glows. “Let’s get down to business.” There is a honeycomb like shimmer as an image of an intricate letter appeared in front of us that I immediately recognize. “This is the symbol of an ancient order, a group of people devoted to keeping the right of free-will among the world.”

“The order of the Assassins.” I utter quietly, earning the looks of the others.

“That’s correct, if my sources are right, you’ve been having dreams of a particular man, correct?” the Director asks me.

“How did you know . . ?” I’m a bit shocked to hear he knew about my dreams and Spider-Man takes it upon himself to elaborate.

“Super Spy, it’s kind of what he does.” He whispers.

“Oh . . . thanks.” he gives me a thumbs up and slides away to a more comfortable distance. “I think his name was . . . Ezio, Ezio Auditore.” I answer and the image of him appears before us.

“You guys look like you could be related!” Nova exclaims. “You know, except more girly.” I shoot him a blank look to which he just shrugs.

“It’s not surprising, seeing as he’s your ancestors.” The image shifts to him in the robes I’ve seen in my visions.

“Ancestor?” White Tiger questions. “That still doesn’t explain anything.”

“It explains everything, thorough out his lifetime this man was single handily responsible for numerous turn of events that shaped what we know our history to be today. You also have other ancestors that played significant roles that range from the Crusades to the American Revolution.”

“ . . . But what does that have to do with _me_?” I ask as he looks over at me.

“That strange vision you have, do you want to know what it’s called?”

“I wasn’t aware it had a name . . .”

“From what we know, it’s called Eagle Vision, it’s something that’s special to your bloodline, something that in records state that come from ‘the ones that came before’. We don’t have much on them, and what we do have is just bits and pieces.”

“So you’re saying she has some kind of magical ability?” Spider-Man inquires skeptically, waving his hands in the air.

“You have to open your mind to the possibilities, Spider-Man.” Iron Fist voices sagely.

“Is this all connected to her? Because right now it just seems like a major information dump.” Power Man declares leaning back in his seat, arms crossed.

“She has the ability to become one of the best, with the proper training.”

I look down at my hands, taking this all in. A . . . Assassin? Was that really in my blood?

“If I may ask, what would drive you to do this?” Mr. Green asks me, eyes locked onto mine. The others seemed to be interested as well.

“To look for my father.” I answer. “Does he have anything to do with this whole assassin deal?”

“Yes,” Fury replies. “But each division have all been attacked and they’ve all scattered. We have ties with The Order, but until recently we’ve only received desultory contact.”

I sigh at this, swiping a hand through my hair and crossing my leg over the other. “He’s always had been difficult to find . . . but you’re the only lead I have,”

“Is,” Spider-Man begins. “Is your reason for looking for him for . . . revenge?” I look over at Spider-Man from the corner of my eye, silent before I chuckle; the sound hollow in my ears.

“No, I want _answers_. I want to know the reason why he left, and force him to apologize to my mother’s grave for keeping her waiting all those years.” The others (sans Fury of course) were in a stunned silence at the quiet malice in voice. “So what do I have to do?” section in front of me opened up, two silver bracers rising up in to view. “These . . .”

“They’re exact replicas of your ancestors, albeit modified to suit your specific needs.” I slowly reach for them gliding my fingers over the vine-like designs.

_They’re cold_.

Images of my friends, the people at Aigile, my life with my mother suddenly flash through my mind and I have doubts. _My entire future will change on this one moment . . . but knowing I had a chance to do this . . ._ I gripped one of the bracers placing it on my arm, a perfect fit. _I’ll never forgive myself if I let it slip away!_ I did the same with the other and instinctively I flex my left hand, a sharp metallic sound slicing through the air as a razor edges blade emerges from them.

The blade makes a thin slice on my ring finger, my blood running down the edge and staining it a light pink, almost as if it was baptizing itself.

“Sweet . . !” Nova breathed, leaning over to inspect the blade, “Do . . . you want a band aid or something?” I shake my head with a small smile, retracting it and pressing on my fingertip.

“It’s only a small cut, I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be using those blades in the evaluation test, along with some armor.” Spider-Man stands, slamming his hands onto the table.          

“We can’t just send her in alone, she’s new to all of this and—”

“Did I ever _say_ she was going in alone?” Fury cuts in, “Since you’re the team leader it’s up to you watch her back; _you’ll_ be the one controlling the drones that will be testing her.”

“M-me?” he looks to me from Fury as the lights flick back to its original brightness.

“Ari, while we get the field ready; suit up, Professor Connors will help you with that, the rest of you will be coming with me.” the doors slide apart just then, revealing a man with dark brown hair and friendly cobalt hued eyes.

“Hello, Miss Kateri, I’m Professor Connors.” he greets me, shaking my hand as I stand to greet him.

“It’s nice to meet you; these bracers you’ve developed are pretty amazing. How did you develop them?”

“That’s the interesting thing; I didn’t! All I did was adapt them from the original schematics, and that was nearly centuries ago!” he clearly sounds excited about it, from the wide grin her wears. “The armor was pretty simple to develop, it’s similar to the one Ezio wore in his younger years but your body is still developing so we’ll have to modify them as you get older . . .” he ushered me away from the group.

 

_I hate this!_ I mentally screech sprinting my way through the corridors of the Hellicarrier. I had to get out of here, all this talk of my ancestors and heritage and the legacy I was ‘destined’ to lead beginning to frustrate me. After my ‘test’ Fury continued his little history lesson, spewing this entire ‘path to my destiny’ deal. Punching a button, a panel slides down to reveal the Manhattan streets below. Without a moment’s hesitation, I jump.

The wind is strong and it stings at my exposed cheeks but my hood miraculously stays up and the contacts the researchers gave me allowed me to scan and locate any possible landing points that wouldn’t result in me being spotted, or splattered.

Gliding my body to the side, I let myself enjoy the feeling of falling before letting out my parachute. I gently land on the roof of an apartment complex and quickly hide myself behind a large metal contraption. It was away from the doors and I’m pushed right up against the corner with another machine. I sit on the floor, bringing my knees to my chest and staring down at the bustling people from the city that never sleeps.

It wasn’t fair . . . everything that Fury told me . . . it just made it seem I was just some sort of _vessel_ or something. That the only reason I can do so much was because of my bloodline. My arms still tingled with the force I had to give to take down those robots . . .

_The reason because I can do this is because **I** worked hard for it. Just because my ancestor was so amazing has nothing to do with my skills._ I bite my lower lip, tightening my fists as the wind tried in vain to whip my hood from my face. Suddenly my vision goes dark and I stand; peering over the metal contraption I can see a golden figure searching the rooftop.

_Iron Fist_ . . . I frown crouching back into my hiding spot and sinking further into the darkness. _Maybe he’ll just leave . . ._

“You know you really freaked everyone out back there.” I jump and let out a small yelp when he randomly appeared in front of me, making me scramble closer to the wall.

“Holy shit!” he chuckles at my reaction.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” he sounds sincere, but that smirk says otherwise. I managed to slow my heart rate to answer him as he sits beside me.

“No, it’s alright . . .” I managed to say. I always feel so odd around him, like I knew him from somewhere but I dismiss it. Either way I did find it easier to be around him, he was always so . . . calm and with my frantic nerves, I needed that. “If anything I should be the one apologizing, I lost my head.”    

“Want to talk about it?” he offers. I visibly stiffen and he must have caught it. “If you want to, that is.” He quickly adds. I sigh, placing a gloved hand on my forehead.

“It’s just . . . frustrating!”

“About what Fury said about your bloodline?”

“Yes! I never believed in all that destiny talk and I certainly do not want my life paved out in front of me like that!” he nods, indicating he was listening. “Even before I knew of him, it was _me_ who joined _Aigile_ to learn acrobatics it was _me_ who after so many strains, bruises and years of practice got me to where I am now . . . and he tells me it’s because I was born to do _this_?!” I pant, not even realizing that I was shouting and I could feel the chill of moisture dripping down my cheeks.

In my annoyance I pull back my hood, not particularly caring that he could see my face. Since I wasn’t an official member of SHEILD, the others were a bit reluctant to do so. I took no offence though, secret identities were meant to stay secret.

I’m full out crying now, not bawling but my tears began to stream faster and no matter how many times I blinked my vision would continue to blur. It wasn’t until I felt a warm gentle hand on the top of my head that I calm down. Through my watery eyes, I blink up at him to see a kind smile on his lips.

“’It is in the moments of your decision that your destiny is shaped.’” he murmurs quietly. “All of _your_ achievements define who you are, no matter who says otherwise.” He moves his hand to wipe a few stray tears from my eyes and I can feel my heart thrumming wildly in my chest from the small contact.      

“Thank you.” I sniffle, not even remotely noticing that his hand lingering by my cheek.

“Ah don’t thank me; I always had a soft spot for cute girls in distress.” I blush at his teasing and smack his arm half-heartedly.

“Y-you flirt.”

“Only when it’s with someone I’m interested in . . .” I hear him just barely murmur. I feel like my heart is about to burst from chest but then feel a pang of guilt when I realize of who Iron Fist reminded me so much of.

_Danny . . . ._ I can feel my cheeks grow hot again as a warmth began to spread through me.

“I’m sorry but . . . I already have someone I like . . .” I utter weakly.

“I can tell; you had this dazed look in your eyes just now. It was kind of cute.”

“S-stop teasing me!” I laugh as he moves closer and nudges me with his shoulder.

“So tell me; who’s the lucky guy?” he asks, looking out at the horizon.

_I wish I knew what color his eyes are . . ._ “Why do you want to know?” I counter, not exactly in a snarky way but more in a quiet way.

“Call me curious, besides who would I tell?”

I weigh my options, not even MJ or Peter knew my crush on the young head of Rand Corp. I only just recently realized my feelings for him myself but he had a point . . . and it’s been killing me not to get it off my chest. I never did like keeping secrets (unless it was extremely important and it was mostly if it involved me anyway) and it was why I showed my face to the other heroes in training—I didn’t have anything to hide.

“H-he goes to the same school as I do . . .” I finally admit, playing with my sleeves.

“Oh? Does he know?” I shake my head quickly.

“No way! It’s still way too soon!”

“So? If you like him, you like him” he points out, leaning back against the cold metal. “The heart wants what the heart wants.”  

“But wouldn’t that be weird? I mean, we’ve been hanging out a lot . . . alone and with my other friends but I don’t think he likes me in the way I do him and I don’t want to give him the wrong idea.”

“How could you possibly give him the wrong idea?”

I pout, poking the ground in what I know looks like a childish manner. “Because he comes from such a privileged life and I . . . don’t . . . but he is the sweetest most down to earth guy I’ve ever met.” I sigh letting my head bang against the wall. “It feels really weird talking about this stuff to a guy . . .”

“We can have a sensitive side too, besides it feels nice to get things off your chest . . . so to speak.” I chuckle at this. He was _way_ too intuitive.

“What about you? You’re a great guy and I’m assuming quite a looker underneath that mask.” I say, poking his shoulder.

“ . . . There might be someone.”

“Ooh, do tell~!” I grin cattishly, giddy at the thought of paying him back somehow. What better way than with advice on girls from a girl?

“It’s similar to your situation, we only met a few weeks ago and I really like her . . .”

“But?”

“She’s extremely dense.” I couldn’t help but laugh at how bluntly he put it. I didn’t know how, but I felt like he raised a brow at me.

“Sorry, it was just so . . . honest, anything else?”

“Well with this whole super hero secret identity I feel like I’m lying to her.” he confesses with a small frown.

“You aren’t lying to her . . . per say. If anyone found out, it would just put her in danger too right?” I offer, not necessarily realizing that I would be in the same situation eventually.

“I’ve considered that reason too, but it still doesn’t seem fair to her.” there is a passing silence as we both look out at the twinkling lights.

“No one ever said love was easy.” I smile weakly, crossing my arms over my chest. Despite the layers this outfit Fury gave me was surprisingly light-weight. I fingered the leather gauntlet; tracing is intricate shape and noting the weight of the hidden blade the resided inside it.

They offered me a gun installed into it as well, but after going through the death of Peter’s Uncle Ben, I was against it. They said I still needed some sort of long range weapon and where talking about some sort of grappling hook with a retractable iron wire. I flick my wrist, revealing the blade with its embellished design and matte luster; to draw no attention to it most likely.

“I’m just going to say, that never stops being cool.” He says as I flick it away with a wry smile.

“Thanks, but I never want to use it . . . I don’t think I have it in me to kill someone.”  

“That kind of purity is rare nowadays.”

“It’s naïve though, right?” I ask, but he was silent. That was enough for me. “We should get back to a lighter note.”

“Agreed, so are you gonna tell this guy how you feel?” he jokes ruffling my hair.

“Only if you tell your girl!” I laugh.

We stay up there for hours, just talking before we had to go back. I felt so much lighter after leaving the roof, but the thought of facing Fury’s lecture make my spirit sink.

“Don’t worry; he won’t go too hard on you.”

“And why’s that?”

“Out of the entire trainee’s, he likes you. Despite what he told you, I think deep down he just genuinely wants to get you prepared for the road ahead.” I hum in agreement. It was difficult to disagree with someone so . . . insightful.

“I guess you’re right; but he doesn’t have to say it like it was all written in some all-knowing book.”

“Your story’s just beginning, I’m sure you’ll be able to add in a few chapters of your own.” I shake my head at his metaphor.

“Too literal, man.”

 

Author's Note:

Chapter Five done! Again, I feel so, so bad for not updating for so long (So super sorry!) 

This chapter wasn't my favorite, at least in the middle. I re-wrote it so many times until I eventually took out the scene with Ari's 'test'. Since she is a human (albeit with above average acrobatic abilities) she just barely passed the mark. The clothes that are described here also aren't permanent, so look forward to Ari's new look! I had a bit of fun designing it in my head. :D

At  least we have another DannyxAri interaction . . . kind of. Hmm, I wonder if I should come up with a kind of ship for these two . . .

Anyway, since there is a holiday weekend coming up, I'll get to editing the next chapter soon! I'll be glued to one spot for a while so there shouldn't be an issue with that.

Have a lovely day you all! Every time I see that hit counter go up I shed a little tear. :'D

 

\--MissHattress.


	6. Field Trip

The trip back to the Helicarrier is a peaceful one, Iron Fist quietly sitting beside me as I look out the ship Fury sent for us to use to get back. It wasn’t as large as I expected it to be, and it could sit about four or five people. I’m a bit surprised to find the person flying the ship was Agent Ana, though. She shoots me a friendly smile as I slip my hood off.

“Nice seeing you again, Aria.” She chuckles as I twitch.

“Likewise, Agent Ana! But please don’t use my full name, just Ari is fine.” I say as I sit down and strap myself into the seats that were set up along the sides of the ship.

“Why? It’s a lovely name. In Italian it means ‘Melody’ no?”

I look down at my hands with a tiny frown. “That’s what my mom told me, so what are you doing here? On the round up duty?” I ask changing the subject.

“No, no,” she laughs, turning back to the controls as the ship begins to gently lift into the air. “Actually, this is the last thing I do today before I’m officially off-duty for the day.”

A pang of guilt sweeps through me as I look over the drivers’ seat. “Oh no! I’m so sorry Agent Ana—If I didn’t jump off the ship, you could’ve been home by now . . .”

“Oh think nothing of it, I volunteered, actually. I think that little stunt you pulled back there shaved off a few years of my life and I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” I look off to the side with a sheepish smile, hearing Iron Fist chuckle to himself.

“S-sorry to worry you . . . I would’ve guessed you guys were used to all that extreme stunts that go around there.”

“It’s alright, although I’ve never seen Agent Benjamin turn that particular shade of green before.” She snickers. “I’m never going to let him live this down.”

“Well, well,” I lilt. “Agent Ana I’ve never would have guessed you for the teasing type!”

“A bunch of us aren’t as uptight as you might think.” She sings with a wag of her finger. A beeping sound comes from a small device in her ear as she excuses herself to take the call, her voice falling back into ‘no nonsense’ mode.

“You seem to make friends easily.” Iron Fist comments as I turn to look at him.

“It’s no big deal, she and another agent were the ones who first brought me to S.H.E.I.L.D headquarters. I was so nervous and she helped me keep it together when I arrived. Although, the teleporting just brought that back . . .” I mutter, recalling the sensation of my stomach feeling as it was flipping over more times that Anne Marie on the trampoline at Aigile.

“I was too when I first got here, it was a little intimidating in the beginning but the others helped me settle in alright. ‘Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking along in the light.’”

I blink, nodding my head slowly as I let his words sink in. “I . . . think I get it. Hey, I’ve been meaning to tell you something for a while now.”

“What is it?”

“What exactly were you doing on my friends’ rooftop in nothing but your briefs?” I know it was blunt of me to ask, but I was curious! It doesn’t seem to affect him, as he simply laughs it off.

“The creature we were fighting stuck me to the walls with that black goop. I’m pretty sure I remember telling someone to run, too, but she seems to make a habit of putting herself in danger.” I grin cattishly at this as he continued. “Anyway, when my teammates got me down, it also happened to tear my suit off. By the way, thanks for the compliment.” I feel a blush creeping up to my cheeks as I stammer out an excuse.

“H-hey, if I had known I would have met you I . . .” I think about my next words before shaking my head. “No, I would still say it.” He laughs again, the sound pleasant to my ears.

“I’ll take that as a compliment then.”

As the ship nears the Helicarrier, Iron Fist places a hand on my shoulder, earning my attention before I completely zone out.

“I believe there will be some things Director Fury and the others will want to talk to you about when we arrive.”

“You don’t think he’ll take back his offer, right?” I gasp, running a hand through my hair. “I’ve already seen too much, right? You don’t think he’ll wipe my memory, right?!”

“Relax, it won’t be anything like that.” He says as Agent Ana announces we are arriving. As we exit, I gulp as I see Fury approach, his coat whipping behind him. I can’t tell if he’s upset or not since he always seemed to look . . . upset. I stand up straighter, looking him dead in the eye as I did the only thing I could think of. I bow.

“I’m sorry, Director! What I did was stupid and dangerous and it won’t happen again!” I say a little too loudly. I can hear Nova snicker a bit but I ignore him. Fury is silent through this, much to my shock so I peek up to look at him to see the same stony expression.

“You’re right, what you did was stupid and you endangered yourself and who knows what could have happened!” even though he doesn’t raise his voice, I still feel as if he was yelling at me. He sighs, pinching the area between his nose before gesturing me to straighten up. “You all come with me to the briefing room.”

“What for, Director Fury?” White Tiger asks as he begins to walk away.

“Since Kateri will be joining your team, I think it’s about time you all have a little talk.” He explains as I gaped.

“Wait . . . I’m in?!”

“Your scores were actually more surprising than we originally thought. With enough training, we can help you focus your skills.” He says as we follow behind him.

“Alright! Welcome to the team!” Nova whooped as he flies past us.

“Good to finally have someone with a good head on their shoulders around here.” White Tiger says next as she pats my shoulder. “And another girl.” She says a little more lowly.

“You’ll have a blast, Ari, the training sessions are tough but worth it.” Power Man grins, smacking me on the back a little too roughly.

“T-thanks guys, I’m looking forward to this! I know I got into this to find more information about my father . . . but after seeing what you guys do I’m really excited!” I say with all honesty much to their amusement.

As we made our way to the briefing room, I see Spider-Man waiting for us and upon our entrance he flips off his upside down perch on the ceiling.

“What’s the situation? I got here as quick as I could!” he says walking up to us.

“Check out the latest addition to our team web-head!” Nova announces, nudging me forward a bit.

“W-what?!”

“It’s good to meet you officially, Spider-Man! I’m a huge fan!” I say shaking his hand.

“Wait, wait, wait—you’re in? As in, in?!”

“Don’t sound so surprised.” White Tiger scoffs, taking a seat. “I figure this meeting is for us to ‘get to know each other’ right? I don’t mind, I can trust Ari.”

“Me too,” said Power Man.

“Eh, whatever.” Nova shrugged.

“I agree.” Iron Fist nodded.

“The choice is yours,” Fury says as he steps out, stopping by the doors and looking at Spider-Man. “That goes for all of you.”

The door slides shut behind him and I turn to face the others. “Uh, what’s going on? Are we going to do another exercise because I have a class trip I have to wake up early for if I want the back seat . . .” I trail off. White Tiger, Nova, Power Man and Iron Fist exchanged a few looks before turning back to me.

“Since you trust us with your identity, we feel we should return the favor.” The green glad super hero states.

“W-what? Are you sure?”

“We’ll be team mates soon, so why not?” Nova grins, taking it upon himself to go first. When he removes his helmet, I feel my jaw drop and I feel like it almost hits the floor as the other followed suit (or unsuit). “Surprise!”

“Ava?! Luke?! Sam?! Danny?! You guys worked for SHIELD this whole time?!” I exclaim, pointing a finger at each of them.

"Heh, I knew you’d be surprised, but you should see the look at your face!” Nova—I mean Sam cracks up, clutching his sides as he leaned against the table for support.

“Shut it you dork, who wouldn’t be surprised?” White—I mean Ava says punching him on the shoulder.

I place a hand on my forehead, feeling a little dizzy at the sudden news. This entire time . . . they were out there saving the world and they never spoke a word . . .

“Are you alright, Ari?” Danny inquires, a worried glint in his green eyes.

“Y-yeah, I think. It’s just a lot to take in! The disappearances make sense now . . . you guys were doing all this without telling anyone? It must have been rough . . . I mean, I don’t like keeping secrets myself. Crap, I’m gonna have to do this too!”

“Don’t worry about it Ari, we’ll help you out.” Luke grins.

I feel a little bit of relief at his words, the information that my new friends were freakin’ Super Heroes sinking in. I look over to Spider-Man, who hangs back, looking at the wall.

“C’mon, Spidey, are you gonna tell her or what?” Sam asks much to our Leaders annoyance.

“I know, Bucket Head it’s just . . .” he lets out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as he looks to me. “Okay, just don’t freak out . . .” he slips the mask off, revealing familiar blue eyes looking rather guiltily at me, waiting for my reaction.

“. . .” I stare at him for who knows how long before I blink. “I knew it.”

Peter (A.K.A one of my best friends) nearly falls over at my laid-back tone, pointing an accusing finger at me. “What’s with that totally blasé reaction?! You freak out at the others but not at me?!”

“Dude, do you really think whenever you disappear and Spider-Man shows up I wouldn’t notice? Give me some credit!”

“You could at least humor me a little.” He grumbles as I laugh and wrap an arm around his shoulder.

“Ohmygosh! Spider-Man is one of my absolute closets’ friends! The shock! The amazement! The confusion!”

“Okay, okay, I get it! Not a word to M.J or Harry okay?”

“My lips are sealed!”

 

The very next day, I wake up with a sense of disbelief. I stare at my cracked ceiling, tracing the pattern for the twentieth time since I manage to wake up early for once. I go through the motions of the morning in a daze, packing my things for the trip to the museum along with the watch Fury gave me to keep in contact with the team.

It was so weird.

I never would expect in a million years that this could ever happen to me.

I look over at the tablet I received that held the information about my father (also given to me by Fury) and slip that into my bag too. I didn’t get around to reading it yesterday and . . . I guess I was a little afraid. I only knew him from when I was still in diapers and that was only as a passing figure. I don’t even remember his face.

A ringing from my phone knocks me from my thoughts as M.J’s picture popped up on my screen.

“Hey Red, what’s up?” I say, holding my phone between my ear and my shoulder.

“Uh, Ari? You’re up?” she says, shock evident in her tone. I could hear Harry in the background letting out an equally surprised ‘Whoa!’

“Yeah, it’s freaky! I woke up on time and everything! I’m all dressed and ready to go, too!”

“Well I guess that makes our morning a little bit smoother, then.” She laughs. “Do you want to meet at school?”

“Sounds good, save you a seat!” I hang up the phone, slinging my backpack on and heading out the door. The familiar barking of my neighbor’s dog rings in the hallway as it runs up to me on its short stubby legs. “Oh hey Channel!” I coed as she barks and rolls onto her back for me to pet her stomach. I laugh and bend down to pet her as her owner’s son jogs up, panting.

“H-hey Ari . . .” he wheezes, taking out an inhaler and taking a breath from it. “Sorry about Channel; ever since you watched her when we took our trip she hasn’t stopped running up to your door.” He says sheepishly as Channel barks happily again at the attention.

“Oh it’s okay, I loved taking care of her. Out for the morning walk?”

“Yep! She got away from me when you opened the door though—are you going to school?”

“Mmm-hmm, field trip, oh the joys of high school life . . . see you around Ron, tell your Mom and sister I said hi!”

“Bye Ari! Will do—Ah, Channel, come back!”

I couldn’t help but laugh as she got away from him again, bolting up the stairs.

 

The walk to school wasn’t a long one, and I manage to grab a few snacks along the way for the trip (mostly fruit, my cheat day was on the weekend) from the corner store and munch on a few grapes as I walked in to the school to my classroom. There were already other students there, and I spot Luke, Ava, Danny and Sam already in their seats, busying themselves until our teacher arrived.

“Whoa, Ari is early for once! Is the world ending?” Sam jokes as I roll my eyes.

“Oh shut it, I actually slept alright for the first time in a long time and it’s freaking me out.” I mutter sitting down at my desk. “I want to go back to bed, but my body just want to go out and about!”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Luke asks, turning in his seat to face me.

“But being the sleepy one was my thing! What am I supposed to do? My identity is at stake!”

“’The value of identity of course, is that so often with it comes with purpose.’”

I stare at the blond as he completed his quote, “Ya know, the more I start to get what you mean, the less I don’t, Danny.” He merely smiles at me as Sam speaks up next.

“So, think of any cool codenames for yourself yet? I was thinking something along the lines of ‘The robe wonder’ or ‘The amazing circus girl’.”

“Thanks Sam, but I think I’ll pass on those.” I say with a nervous smile.

He shrug it off, leaning back in his seat. “You’ll be back.” He smirks.

It got me thinking though, what should I call myself? Fury didn’t give me one, so I assume I had the freedom to choose one of my own . . . I wrack my mind for any possible ones I might like, my brow furrowing in thought before I let out a sigh.

“Can’t I just be called by my nick name?”

“Aren’t you worried about your identity leaking out?” Ava points out, looking up from her text book.

I don’t have much family left . . . and the only ones I would really worry about are M.J and Harry. Considering the rest of my circle of friends are super heroes, I don’t really have nothing to worry about.  
“Not really, as long as I don’t say my full name, I think I should be fine?”

“That sounded convincing,” Luke chuckles. “It’s your choice, though and it kind of fits.”

"Ooh, what about ‘Slicer’!?” Sam calls out, an excited look in his eyes. “It sounds edgy, and it totally fits your whole arm blade thingy!” he says, motioning with his wrist.

"That sounds like a bad guy’s name!” I cry out.

 

When everyone was fully assembled, Principle Coulson (who I now knew to be Agent Coulson—who else had a secret double life here?!) leads our group. Since no one really knew how we were going to be assigned, M.J and Harry were in another group all together while the rest of us were in the bus we were on now. Peter filled me in on this, stating that Fury wants us to be within range of one another, much to his annoyance.

I take this time to look over the file I brought with my about my father, filtering out the noise from the other students. I could hear Coulson talk about something related to Loki, the Norse God of mischief but I couldn’t focus on that.

With a deep breath, I power on the tablet, the SHIELD emblem flashing for a moment before the screen when white, and a photo of a man pops up, staring straight at the camera. He has dark thick hair, just like mine that barely brushes the nape of his neck and dark brown eyes. He has a strong jawline that was sprinkled with dark stubble and a scar just above his lip on the left side.

Mom was right, I muse. I really do have his eyes. I smile to myself, despite not really recognizing him and begin to read the information they had on him.

Kele Kateri

Age: 42  
Height: 6’  
Weight: 170 lbs.  
Status: Alive.

Family:

Wife:

Francine Castillo Kateri  
Height: 5’7  
Weight: 153 lbs.  
Status: Deceased.

Daughter:

Aria Nora Kateri  
Height: 5’6  
Weight: 137 lbs.  
Status: Alive.

My eyes scan over the ‘deceased’ underneath my mom’s name and feel a pang in my heart as I blink back a few tears and continued reading.

My father has Native American roots, both his parents being from a long line of them that lived up in the North but no further information about his parent’s or any other relatives he might have. There was lot about his fight against the Templars, a separate group that was the complete opposite of what The Order stood for. They wanted to control the world under one rule and repress freedom and individuality. According to this, they were a huge head in the business field and extremely powerful. I remember seeing a documentary about this place and was a little shocked to find out it was the company called Abstergo that produced the majority of Pharmaceutical items that gets shipped around the world.

I press the tablet to my chest, looking at the seat in front of me. I was suddenly feeling nauseous as my stomach drops. Am I getting in way over my head in this? All I wanted to do was to find my father . . . and if I do, what then? Will he ask me to fight with them? Against the Templars? It was already one thing that I already joined SHIELD, so I practically have one foot in the door.

A warm hand on my shoulder snaps me out of my thoughts as I turn to meet the cool green eyes of Danny. Peter, who was siting to his right glanced at me for a second before swatting away Sam’s drawing of a ‘newly improved costume’.

“Are you alright?” he asks, concern lacing his usual calm.

“Um, yeah. Why?” I say as Peter gives me a skeptical look.

“’Cause you look like that day we cut open those frogs in Bio in our freshmen year. You look like you’re about to puke.”

Well he isn’t wrong. “I’m . . . reading about my father and it’s a bit overwhelming is all.”

“You mean that thing Fury gave you? What does it say?”

“He’s still alive, which is good, but he has powerful enemies and it doesn’t seem to say where he is. Just places he’s been to.”

“Your father seems like a difficult man to find,” Danny begins. “But I believe your paths will cross soon, just give it time.”

“Time is what he’s had a lot of but you’re right; I won’t kill myself over this.” I look back down at the information, scanning it for anything else that might help me but it was pretty basic. What did catch my attention though, was a flashing icon at the corner of the screen when I reached the end of the file.

“Well? Are you gonna press it?” Peter asked, and I shot him a look at his nosiness but press it none the less. “Whoa, is that your new suit?” I shrug, pinching the file bigger to get a better look at it.  
It was all black this time with a tight black suit with crisscrossing belts that held several pouches-of-who knows-what, the trademarked ‘A’ being held in the center.

There was sling held across the body, most likely a bag. Grey accented the outfit on the shoulder pads and knee-high boots and to cover me, a matching coat that billowed around the model that went a little past my waist. Black fingerless gloves covered the rest of my arms, my gauntlets gleaming. Their face was hidden by the beaked hood, an image of an eye mask floating near the face for added protection.

“Cool . . . ooh, it says here they added a grappling hook instead of a gun. Thank God, I don’t think I’ll have the heart to ever use it.”

“That means a lot, Ari. Thanks.” Peter murmurs with a thankful smile. I returned it, noting a lot of cool tech that I was given. “Do you think you’ll be able to use it? Not to mention all those layers—how the heck are you going to suit up?”

“I’ve done enough costume changes at Aigile to get by Petey; no worries. By the way, how do you guys manage to suit up? You’re always just prepared so I never gave it much thought.”

“Well I usually have mine in my bag, I’m wearing it underneath this today—never too prepared, yeah?”

“What about the others?”

“I just kind of . . . happens. You know, I never really questioned it either but it works so I wouldn’t question it.”

“Fair point.”

“Alright everyone, we’ve arrived at the museum!” Principle Coulson called out, earning our attention. “Everyone, single file and don’t forget anything on the bus. There’s no coming back once we’re inside.”

“Oh the joy of field trips . . .” Peter grumbled from behind me as he pulled out a juice box.

“Just because you have a bad time on these things, doesn’t mean everyone else does.”

“Why’s that?” Danny asks as we step off the bus.

“He has a habit of getting bitten by things, personally I find it kind of amusing, Peter on the other hand . . . not so much.”

“I’m just glad I never got any radioactive goat powers from that menace at the zoo.” He shudders as I snicker at the visual.

As we enter the museum, Coulson began to talk about how we didn’t put much thought into Gods existing, but ever since Thor arrived, that pretty much changed everything. A lot of things changed after The Avengers showed up after that disaster a few years ago.

Come to think of it . . . wasn’t that also caused by Loki? I ponder as I look over an ornate tapestry that hangs on the walls. It seems to depict the relationship between Thor and his brother Loki; they didn’t seem to get along very well but my Norse mythology is pretty rusty.

I wander away from the group a bit as Coulson began to talk about a rather shiny crown that was inside a glass display. For the heck of it, I activate my Eagle vision, the world shifting around me and going dark until something strange happened. Well even stranger. A golden path begins to spread before me, leading me around a corner and even farther away from the group. I look back to see if anyone was watching and sneak away when it was clear. The path went on ahead of me, beckoning me and pausing whenever I stop to go around other museum-goers.

It finally leads me to a large roped off exhibit, a beautiful ornate sword is displayed, buried deep into a large rock. It glows a brilliant gold as I stare up at it in awe, the light almost too bright for me to bear. I shut off my Eagle Vision, blinking away the light as I adjust to my normal sight.

“The Sword of Eden . . ?” I read out loud as I scan the origins. “’A sword wielded by the great warrior Sigmund, he pulled it out of an ancient tree called Barn. . . sto . . . kkr? After Odin, the All Father embedded it into it.” I look back up to the gleaming sword, tilting my head a little.

Why would I be led here?

I look around again but the path stops here . . .

Well, if something out there expected me to pull that out it has another thing coming. No way was I getting banned from this place—or worse. I turn on my heel, shoving my hands into my pockets as I meander back to the group next to Peter, who was leaning at the back of the crowd and talking to himself again.

“Paranoid about something bad happening?” I ask him as he jumps a little.

“Whoa! When the heck did you get here?!”

“Just now, why?”

“Geez Ari, we need to put a bell on you or something!” he sighs, placing a hand over his heart.

“My bad, forgot to make noise again. It’s not my fault these shoes are so silent!” I chuckle as he sends me a half-hearted glare.

“Where’d you go anyway?”

“My Wander-lust got the best of me and I found a big glowing sword. Typical Thursday if I do say so for myself.

“Wait, what—” before he could finish his question, a blinding light (this time one in my normal vision) flashes throughout the room and in a matter of seconds, utter chaos breaks loose. A bone chilling wind sweeping through us. Glass shattered somewhere and when the light receded, a giant with blue skin and blood red eyes appears, giving out a mighty roar as our classmates began to panic and flee. It starts to smash its icy club onto the ground, making large craters as Coulson herds the students to safety.

“You guys are on.” He tells us as he runs behind them. Ava pulls me away suddenly, rounding a corner as the wall opens up to reveal our costumes.

“How in the hell?” I mutter as she begins to suit up.

“A hero is always ready, now get ready, we can’t let the guys have all the fun.” She smirks as I nod. It was a little awkward at first, what with the suit being a little loose, but as soon as I slipped on the hood, it tightened around me, making me squeak. “It suits you, now let’s go!” White Tiger nods as she jumps into the scene.

“W-wait what do I . . . do?” I sigh, she’s already out of earshot and the others were already springing into action. It was no good though, everything the others shot at the giant didn’t seem to damage it at all . . .

As I stand there dumbly, my bracer began to beep and an image of Professor Connors appeared above my bracer. “Whoa!”

“ _Ari! Good, your com’s system seems to be working okay. I’ve gotten the situation from Agent Coulson. Now, we don’t have a lot to go up against Norse mythical monsters_ —”

“Monsters?!”

“ _But, we’ve given you a bit of tech to help you out, did you read the data Director Fury gave you?_ ”

“Uh, yeah, a little. Kind of in the middle of a field trip.” I say as I look up in time to see Nova get blasted into the wall.

" _No problem, I can patch you through to someone to walk you through it._ " Another voice, switches to my right ear, this time a female as the screen turns off.

“ _Heya! The name’s Margaret but just call me Maggie! Now, the pouch on your right hip pocket contains specially designed explosives that can be activated via a switch. It won’t destroy the thing, but it’ll slow it down_.”

I get the hint and nod, taking a deep breath and dashing to the right of the giant. It spots me immediately and I use my Sight to find its weak points. I jump high into the air, hopping onto its club (that it almost smashed me with mind you!) and reaching into the pouch with the explosives. I placed one on its arm as I swung at me again but I twisted my body to the side to place another one near its neck and left wrist. Jumping off it, I landed in a low crouch, sticking two to the back of its kneecaps.

“Everybody get back!” I call out as I put some distance between it and me. “Maggie, which one is it?”

“ _Left side, right wrist_.” I nod and press the switch as the giant let out a pained roar as the bombs went off and it goes down, falling down to one knee and holding itself up with its club as it glared at us.

“A-Ari, how did you—?!” Spider-Man stutters as I gesture to my ear.

“SHIELD explosives.” I answer, my eyes still on the beast. “It won’t last long, though. It’s too strong.”

“You think?” Power Man snorted as a crash of thunder brakes through the sky lights. With a mighty slam of his hammer Thor—The Thor landed in all his godly glory. “Is that—?!”

“Holy crap, it’s Thor!” I cry out as I hear Connors chuckle.

“ _I was wondering where that static interference was coming from_ . . .” Maggie mutters, sounding a bit displeased.

“For Asguard!” Thor calls out, his hammer lit aglow with thunder as he holds it up to the giant, encasing it in ice and easily taking it out of commission. “Stay back! This is no place for oddly dressed younglings!” he says as the giant breaks out of its prison.

"Did he just call us younglings?” Tiger says as Spider-Man scoffs.

“Yeah, maybe Nova but that’s beside the point! Thor, we can help take down Big-Ugly! Just—”

The Asgaurdian god holds his hand out to us, glancing back before slamming away a beam of ice that was aimed at us. “I value your bravery, but the ‘Big Ugly’ as you call it is no mere thief. It is a Frost Giant and extremely dangerous.” He says before swinging his hammer and slamming it into the Giants chin.

“Should we be insulted?” I ask as the others regroup.

"He has to know we’re here, to _get_ insulted.” White Tiger frowns, crossing her arms.

“He doesn’t think we’re good enough.” Power Man mutters.

Well, we are still pretty new, not to mention this would technically be my first mission . . . I muse, still feeling pretty shaky. “Thanks for the heads up Maggie, I appreciate it! Tell the Professor my thanks!” I say as Spider-Man gives me a funny look.

“Maggie? Professor Connors’ assistant? Where? Hey, did they give you headpiece? No fair!” I wave him off as Thor whacks the Giant through a wall. It appears to be down for the count as he flies back to us.

Geez he’s tall, I have to crane my neck up!

“Fortune smiles upon you today younglings. You could have been hurt.” He smiles as Spider-Man steps up.

“We appreciate it, but we can take care of ourselves.

“Aye, and I’m sure you’ll make fine warriors someday. Go and fetch Son of Coul and tell him the trouble has been dealt with.”

Okay, I know he’s a god and all, but can he knock himself down a few pegs? Sheesh!

“Wait, wait, wait, Coulson called you in?!” Spider-Man chokes out as White Tiger pushes passed him, pointing a clawed finger at Thor.

“We didn’t need you, and if you hadn’t noticed, we’re a pretty solid team.”

“ _Judging from what I heard, the big guy disagrees._ ” Maggie snickers as I bite the inside of my cheek to stop from laughing.

This sparks an argument between the two, making me let out a tiny sigh as Thor goes back to the fallen Frost Giant. My eyes widen as the monster glowed bright red, prompting Spider-Man and I to yell out at the same time,

“Thor, don’t touch that!” we both exchange a look before he swings over to Thor while I run behind him.

“Listen, I don’t think you want to touch that—” Spider-Man is cut off by a steely glare from the Asguardian, making him bite his tongue. “I-I mean, don’t touch that, Thor, Sir!”

“We think there’s something wrong with that amulet, Mister God of Thunder.” I add in, as he glances over us dismissively.

“Stand down, the matter is well in hand, young ones.” He grabs onto the amulet as a glowing green light burst from it. I had to shield my eyes from it as Thor let out a pained cry and an invisible force pushes Spider-Man and I back. He manages to catch me, shielding me from hitting the wall as I shoot him a grateful look.

“Thanks Petey,” I whisper as he nods with a wink.

“C’mon, let’s go check on sparky!” he says as we both jogged/webbed over to him. “Thor! Are you—Thor?!”

“That’s a Frog!” I exclaim before slapping a hand over my mouth.

“Hmm . . . should we laugh? Or drop in shock?” Spider-Man jokes as Froggy-Thor bites his finger. I bit my thumb to keep from full on laughing as the red and blue clad super hero sends me a heated glare.

“So . . . what should we do now?” I ask as he has a staring contest with the now three-foot tall frog-god who slams his hammer down in annoyance, causing the floor to rumble.

"S-sorry,” Spider-Man apologizes. “It’s just that from this angle, you’re a frog!”

“There is only one person who could accomplish such bewitchment . . .”

“The Wizard of Oz?”

“My half-brother Loki, our father, Odin is the ruler of the Asgard and ever since he was a child, Loki has sought that power for himself. There’s nothing he won’t do to disgrace me and usurp my father’s throne and take control of Midgard and the rest of the nine worlds.” He explains looking over the tapestry that Coulson was talking about earlier.

“Midgard . . . that’s our world, right?” I say, the mention of his father, Odin, making me look back to where the sword I was led to before all this happened. I wanted to ask him more about his father, but the question remained unasked as he proclaims he had to return to Asgard as he hopped away (quite adorably I might add).

“We get that you’re upset at your brother, but shouldn’t we stop to regroup?” White Tiger offers as Thor turns back to glare at us all.

“I am still Thor the Thunderer! Loki will face my—” he cuts himself short as he snapped a fly out of the air with his tongue, which made Spider-Man even more worried.

“O...kay, we’re coming with you.”

“Where I go, is no place for mere mortals”

“Thor, you said Loki is going after the nine worlds, Earth is one of them so that make is our business.” White Tiger adds in.

“There’s also the fact that you. Are. A. Frog.” Spider-Man stresses, earning a sigh from The Frog Prince.

“So be it.” He swings his hammer around, pointing it to an empty space as a shining portal appears; the other side showing a beautiful rainbow bridge leading to a glistening city of gold. “Thou art entering the realm of Asgard, prepare for wonders beyond you imaginations!” he bellows as I stare in wonder at it.

“Cool . . !” I grin, being the first one to step up as we pass through one by one. I’m not sure what was with me and teleporting, but as soon as we stepped onto the colorful bridge, we were teleported to the golden city and I started to feel queasy.

“You okay, Ari?” Power Man asked as I nod, clearing my throat.

“Yeah, teleporting and my stomach never really got used to each other. Ugh.”

“SHIELD?” he asks with a grin.

“Yep . . .”

“I hate that thing too.”

“Oh no! Asgard covered in ice? This must be Loki’s doing! Beware, young heroes . . .” he utters as we start to walk further into the city. “Loki! Come out and face me!” he yells and suddenly he’s encased in ice.

Well that escalated quickly.

From behind him, Frost Giants begin to sprout from the ground, surrounding us and I turn just in time for us to get encased in an icy prison and my vision goes black.

 

When I came to, the others are still out cold (puns, ha) and I dizzily sit up, rubbing my head and thankful for the mask I was given for my eyes since my hood came off. I look around a gold covered throne room, wondering about this weird obsession with the shiny metal as a voice calls out to me from across the room.

“Ah, I see one of Midgard’s young warriors has awakened.” A man clad in green and donning a curled horned helmet says in biting tone. “Welcome, child of The Order.” I place a hand on the icy wall, trying to find a weak spot of some kind, but my dizzy mind was making it difficult to concentrate.

“I’m guessing you’re Loki, then . . . how do you know about The Order?” I ask, trying to keep my voice even.

“Oh you are well known here in Asgard. Do not misunderstand, you aren’t renowned but we have dabbled in your groups affairs from time to time. More specifically my father.” He frowns, tossing up a green transparent ball that holds Thor.

“Do not heed his words, young one, he speaks with a silver tongue!” Thor warns as he lets out a cry when Loki bounces him against the wall.

“I speak the truth when need be, brother,” Loki smirks, catching the ball. “I believe the sword goes by ‘Eden’ in Migard, no? My father certainly brewed up a bit of mischief himself with that plot.” He muses. “Tell me, why does one so young wish to drench her hands in blood? Surely you know the history with your clan of assassins, it’s a heavy burden to bear.”

“If you think you can scare me, you’re wrong.” I say as spots on the wall began to glow blue. Good, at least that was going back to normal.

“So you were born with the ‘Sight’ . . . it is rumored to be connected to the Gods, I suppose that makes you somewhat intriguing.” He shrugs. I didn’t know how he knew about that, but his tone was starting to piss me off! Everything he says just sounds so condescending! I was about to give him a piece of my mind but the others began to come to.

“Ow . . . what the heck happened?” Spider-Man groans, rubbing his head.

“It seems we were ambushed,” Iron Fist states calmly, standing up.

“Ugh, I feel like I just went ten rounds on Sonic.” Nova says looking a few shades of green.

“Everyone alright?” Power Man asks as White Tiger shakes it off.

“Fine.”

“So, any plans for getting out of here?” I ask, rubbing my temples.

“Working on it,” Spider-Man says turning to face the God of mischief.

“I must apologize for the chilly reception, brother. You had no idea how much work it took to drag you and your hammer here. Do you like my spell of containment? I designed it specifically for you!” he sneers, throwing him at us only to catch him like a handball and twirl him around like basketball.

“Brother,” Thor begins, regaining his senses. “Release me now, or—”

“I was so simple to use your arrogance against you,” Loki continues as if Thor hadn’t spoken. “You never could resist showing off against the Frost Giants, that’s why I made a pact with them. Setting the stage for you to come blustering in was so easy . . .”

I start to tune him out as Iron Fist searches the walls for something. “Weak spot?” I ask as he nods without looking at me. “Five spaces to your left, about shoulder height, the size of Bucket Head’s helmet."

“Hey!” Nova shouts as Danny half-grins and he and Power Man punch through the wall, shattering it just as Loki hovers towards us—did he just call us pets?

Whatever. I sprint out of the remains of the cage, running for the walls as two Frost Giants hone in on me, dodging their icy beams as I plant two explosives on a nearby pillar, sliding underneath ones legs and setting it off as the rubble crushes the two before they could reach me. My head is still pounding as I flip out of the way of a club that nearly takes my head off.

“Maggie, are you there?” I ask, hoping that I still had some reception here but no luck. “Damn . . .” I try to remember something from the info the tablet held, but it was coming up all jumbled.

Nova manages to get Thor out of his prison, but things aren’t looking good for us when the Frost giants begin to corner our group. Even with Thor free, there was just too many of them so Spider-Man orders a tactful retreat much to Thor’s disdain as we’re teleported out of there and into a three feet of snow.

I shake it off the flakes from my hood, popping my head out from the snow. “You know, that whole teleporting deal is not getting any easier for me.” I frown, standing up and brushing the powdery white flakes from my coat.

“What were we thinking? Fleeing from a battle? The son of Odin never—”

“Quit it with the attitude; no one likes to run away!” Spider-Man snaps. “Personally, the only thing I hate more than running is getting killed! Which is what would have happened if we stayed; we need to play it smart and re-group! Come up with a plan, you know?”

“And who put you in charge?” Nova piped up (literally) as he pops out from the snow. “I was doing pretty good back there!”

“You broke a fishbowl! Ari did more back there and she’s still figuring out her tech! No offense.”

“None taken.”

“Enough!” Power Man exclaims, breaking the two up. “There’s no use in arguing amongst ourselves, it won’t help anything!”

“Your words ring true, Spider-Man. Loki has gained advantage by exploiting my pride and my rushing to battle may have endangered you and the lives of mypeople . . . “

  
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” White Tiger says. “We all could have handled that better.”

“You are Mortals. I am not.”

“’Loosing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.’” Iron Fist states serenely.

“You were right, Thor, this Asgard business may have been too much for us to handle,” Spider-Man says. “We need to lose that spell Loki put on you.”

“I got this! Ava, kiss the frog!” Nova shouts much to her chagrin.

“What?! You kiss the frog!” Ava hisses back as he turns to me next.

“Nuh-uh. I’ve seen how it works in the movies, Ari, you’re up!”

“I do believe you qualify as a Princess, too then, Nova.” I smile as he frowns at me.

“Hmm, I do believe I have an idea, but the odds are long but there may be someone Loki had over looked in his conquest. He may give us the chance we need . . .”

Thor then told us to follow him, not giving us any more information as he flies off ahead.

“Jesus its cold . . .” White Tiger shivers, hugging herself as I fall into place next to her.

“Wanna borrow my coat?” I offer.

“Won’t you be cold, then?”

“Nah, my hood is attached to my suit, plus it’s thermal. All I feel is a little chilly.” I say slipping it off and handing it to her.

“Thanks, Ari.” She says wrapping it around her shoulders with a sigh.

“So, find any new cool tech on you? You know, besides the bombs?” Nova asks from my right. I look through the pouches now that we have some down time, finding a long metal coil that connected to a few thick metal darts and the pouches that where crisscrossed in an ‘X’ across my chest held small silver daggers engraved with vines. I also find some round marble sized spheres that I (hope) are smoke bombs.

Power Man whistles, impressed. “They really hooked you up, still have those blades?” I flex my arms, both blades of them gleaming in the light of the moon.

“Don’t think these could be useful against glacier hard skin,” I muse. “They mentioned something about a grappling gun, but I’m not pressing any buttons until I know for sure. Last thing I need to do is accidentally tasering myself.”

“That sounds familiar.” Nova snickers, glancing over at Spider-Man who shoots him a dark look.

“Hey, I just got the stun webs that week!”

“Yeah, and then you go and electrocute yourself after Connors explains how to use ‘em.” Power Man adds in. “Web head smelled like burnt toast for days.”

“When we have some down time you guys have got to tell me every embarrassing detail!” I say, just imagining getting back at Peter for all the pranks he’s pulled.

“Ari!”

“Don’t ‘Ari!’ me, I can finally get some dirt on you after all these years. Don’t worry though, I won’t go too hard on you.” I grin with a wink. He lets out a defeated sigh, already dreading it as Thor flies back a bit, hovering a few feet away from me.

“My Brother had mentioned you being part of The Order, the assassins that fight for freedom over a forced rule. Tell me young one, why do you risk your life so?”

I look down at the powdery snow, I know the others already knew the gist of it but even SHIELD (who’s worked with them before, and had a super spy within their ranks) knew only so much about the mysterious group. “I want to find my Father. He’s been a member of that group since he was my age . . . I don’t know if my mom knew about it, maybe she did, maybe she didn’t but all I know . . . what I feel is that I have to find him.” I explain, placing a hand over my heart. “Even though I don’t know him that well, something’s telling me that he’s out there somewhere . . .”

“. . . Aye, a noble cause. Do you know of their Creed?”

I close my eyes, seeing the words in red behind my eyelids. “’Nothing is true; everything is permitted.’ Right?”

“What the heck does that even mean?” Nova scoffs, rubbing his hands together to warm them up.

“It differs,” says Thor. “The Creed is something that’s been passed on for centuries within your ranks. What does it mean to you?”

“I was never one for philosophy, and I’m nowhere near knowing how it reflects me but . . .”

“You are worried that you will have to take on the burden of your Father, yes?”

“Do not let the shadow of greatness eclipse the light of potential.” Danny says sagely, and I have to wonder if the boy always spoke in riddles around the others. Or maybe it was just when he was Iron Fist?

“Have heart, daughter of eagles, and carve out your own path with your own hands. The road may be difficult, but you have good allies to stand by you. Do not forget that.”

He’s right . . . I’ m not in this alone, and I’m not my father. I’ll just have to take it a day at a time.

“Thanks, Thor. And thank you guys, for everything.”

“That’s what friends are for!” Spider-Man says, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Through thick and thin and all that jazz, right?”

“Since we were kids!” I laugh good-naturedly as the god of thunder stops up before a giant mouth of a cave. “Whoa, where are—”

“ _ARI COME IN_!” I let out a loud yelp, stumbling out of Spider-Man’s hold and holding a hand over my right ear.

“Holy—Maggie what the ever loving hell?!” I exclaim, as a sharp ringing sound made itself known in my ears. The others looked back at me, exchanging looks as I apologize for my outburst.

“ _Oh, you can hear me then_!”

“Yeah. I can.” Obviously.

“ _Sorry we were MIA, you can’t imagine how hard it is to cut through an entirely different dimension! What’s the situation?_ ”

“Thor is leading us through to someone who might be able to help, and I could use more information on my gear.” I say quietly as we traverse deeper into the cave.

“ _No problem, have you at least looked through you stuff? We gave you different attachments to add to your grappling hook gun_.”

“You mean those bolts? What exactly am I supposed to use them for exactly?”

“ _They range from providing an anchor to create another path for you to walk on to . . . not so nice things. Your grappling hook gun is located near your left gauntlet and activated by placing your hand over the end of it. The one nearest to your elbow sweetie_.”

“Okay. So what, do I just aim and shoot?”

“ _Yep! Just don’t do it in enclosed spaces! No worries though, we’ll go through a more extensive run –through with your gear when you guys come back—with yours truly_!” she cackles a little, the sound of it making me feel a little worried for my safety. “ _Well, I can’t hold this signal for long but I’ll be listening if you need anything, just holler_!” with that, her voice cuts off and just in time for us to reach the sound of pounding metal.

The sight of a stocky but short grey skinned man greeted us as he hammered away at a molten hot sword on an anvil. That must have been the sound we were hearing.

“We have arrived. This is the home of the dwarf Eitri, Master Forger.” Thor says as the man lets out a grunt as he inspects his craftsmanship.

“A dwarf huh?” Nova muses lowly. “Lollipop guild, or classic dopey?”

“I’m gonna say classic dopey.” Spider-Man replies as Thor hops over to the anvil, looking up at Eitri.

“Master Eitri, it is I, Thor the thunderer, son of Odin the All Father. I come on an urgent—” the dwarf holds up a hand in obvious annoyance, halting Thor (surprisingly) and letting out a tired sigh.

“I am aware of your . . . situation.” He says gruffly, his eyes scanning over our group. “No one ever come here unless they need something. Make this, sign that, pull here, fix this. I knew from the moment you stepped foot in this cave, Thor Odinson. I made your Hammer, greatest weapon in the nine worlds but did you ever come here once to thank me? No. Not even a single letter! You only come here when you need something.” He glowers as Thor looks down, shame evident in his posture.

“Scratch that, he’s a grumpy one.” Spider-Man utters as the Master Dwarf continues his work.

“This argument sounds a little familiar,” I say aloud as I wrack my brain. “Oh! It was that time M.J and I went to that elderly home to do an article on a retired Broadway producer! She thought Red was her niece and started ranting on how no one ever visited her.”

“How did you make her stop?” Power Man asks as I shrug.

“She apologized, I think. Then she realized Red wasn’t her niece and offered us cookies as an apology. Very nice in my opinion.”

“Well we don’t have any cookies, but maybe we can take something from Ari’s weird life experiences and put it to good use.” Spider-Man says leaning down to Thor’s level. “Maybe this is where you leave behind that whole arrogant prince thing . . . just sayin’.”

Thor thinks about it for a few moments before he makes his way over to Eitri. “I ap— I apologize,” he says lowly, but the dwarf ignores him. “You deserve the highest of respect Master Dwarf. As the Prince of Asgard, I should have accorded you that respect. For that, I am sorry.”

Eitri stops his hammering, looking down at Thor with a thoughtful look. “Your current state has taught you some humility. If a Prince can bow to a Dwarf, perhaps there is still hope. Now, what can this Dwarf do for you, my Frog Prince?”

Thor smiles, placing his helmet back onto his head. “We require your talents in defeating my brother, Master Dwarf.”

“So you need weapons, yes?” he looks at us all, then, nods his head as he turns back to Thor. “Give me one hour, and you shall have everything you need.” He says as he turns away to get to work.

“What are we gonna do for an hour?” I ask, taking a seat on a nearby rock.

“Come up with a strategy to beat that horned creep.” Spider-Man says punching his fist and taking a seat across from me on the floor. “By the way, how are you holding up, Ari? For a first mission, this is pretty intense.”

“I’ll admit, I didn’t ever think the first thing I would do would be to stop someone from taking over the worlds. Let alone a God! It’s a little nerve wracking.” I say, rubbing my hand over my fingers.

“You’re doing pretty okay for a rookie.” Nova laughs and I roll my eyes at his attempt at flattery.

“You guys can keep it so cool though, how do you do it?”

“Who says we aren’t worried out here?” White Tiger admits, sitting down beside me. “There are a lot of people out there depending on us.”

“Especially with all the pressure Fury’s putting on us.” Power-Man adds in, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

Nova snorts, leaning back against the cave walls with his hands behind his head in a lax position. “Says you guys.” He says haughtily. “I’m totally in control of this.”

“If your idea of ‘control’ means to get thrown into the wall and rescue a god turned frog, I worry about our chances. The best fighters are always in control, friend.” Iron Fist comments calmly, seated in the lotus position.

“. . . Are you implying that I’m not in control or being a saucebox? ‘Cuz sometimes it’s hard to tell with you.”

“What the hell is a ‘saucebox’?” I laugh as he points a finger in the air.

“It means a smart-ass. What? I’m trying to expand my vocabulary!”

“Remind me to use that on Harry next time, he’ll definitely get a kick out of that one.” Spider-man nods, his mask shifting to hint at his grin.

 

When Eitri was finally done with . . . whatever it was that he was doing, he presents us with the weapons he’s forged. A bow and arrow for White Tiger, to help her concentrate. Nova gets a halberd that only works with a steady hand. Iron Fist receives a short sword, making him trust his instincts and Power Man gets an axe that can harness his strength. Surprisingly, I get a pretty cool looking boomerang. Its light, the weight similar to a baseball as I turn it over in my hand.

“You, daughter of The Order, will receive this boomerang, which returns to the user no matter where may be thrown, but requires complete faith in ones self. Know where to throw, and it will bring you victory.” He tells me and I look down at the glittering weapon.  
 

“Ooh, what about me?” Spider-Man asks excitedly, to which Eitri smirks.

“You already have the power within you, but you must learn to take charge.”  
He lets out a sigh, his shoulders slumping. “So in other words, take this as a learning experience . . . sometimes it sucks being team leader . . .” he grumbles. I pat his shoulder a little.

“Come young warriors, the time is neigh for battle!” Thor says swinging his hammer to open a portal. “You have my thanks, Master Eitri.”

“You can repay me by defeating that Trickster Brother of yours.” He grins as we each follow Thor through his portal. I brace myself, ready to feel the queasy feelings we appear once again in the throne room, Loki turning to sneer at us when we arrive.

“You again? You really don’t know when to stay down, do you Brother? Well no matter. Frost Giants, attack!” he commands as his army begins to rush at us. We each split apart, White Tiger getting the first few hits with her arrows as I veer off to the left, trying to hold down my breakfast. I activate my Eagle Vision, sections of the wall glowing as I grip the boomerang in my hand.

Here goes nothing! With a swing of my arm, I throw it, the curved piece of metal hitting the lit up wall parts and bouncing off a couple of pillars as it cuts though the legs of the ones closing in on me. The Giants collapse as I jump to catch the boomerang, Nova flying up above me to slash at one to my right.

“Thanks, Nova!” I say as he gives me a thumbs up.

“Not too bad yourself Ari!”

“Okay guys, let’s do this! Iron Fist and Power Man to the left, Nova and Throg to the right! White Tiger, Ari, you’re with me, let’s show ‘em what we got!” Spider-Man calls out as we all nod and Tiger and I follow Spidey’s lead as the others go off to do their own combos. “Ari, do your thing! Tiger, this guy’s all yours!” he says as I toss the boomerang again causing it to ricochet off two that are ahead of him as she sends an arrow flying, the three giants tripping over Spidey’s webs as they fall to the ground with a crash.

Nova and Throg (as the Web-Head put it) knocks out the last few remaining Giants as Loki retreats in to the chamber Odin is sleeping in.

“You will not stop me . . . I will destroy my father!” the trickster god proclaims, using a glowing green hunk of stone to break down the doors. But before he can enter, Spider-Man blocks his way with his webs.

“See? This is why we can’t have nice things, if you keep on breaking doors around here you’ll never get that pool you want.” He teases as Loki scowls, the stone glowing a dangerous green again. I hold my arm up, ready to throw just in case.

“Stand aside, mortal.” He warns, holding up the stone to zap Throg as he collapses on to the floor. “My father’s end is nigh.” He grins wickedly as Spider-Man gulps.

“Hey Loogie! You seriously want to take over the world like this?”

“What are you babbling on about?” Loki sighs, clearly getting tired of his words. Too bad that’s what he does best, though.

“They’ll never really say you earned it; stealth freezing people when their guards are down, hiring some snow cones, big whoop!”

“I had suddenly have a change in plans. You, then Odin, then the Universe.” Loki utters lowly, holding the glowing stone as he steps closer to Spider-Man but he doesn’t falter.

“The only way you’d ever get any respect, is to take down Thor who, if you don’t remember, is a frog! Big deal all mighty Frog slayer!”

Everyone could see what he was trying to make him do, goading him on in to changing Throg back to normal but what we didn’t expect was him actually falling for it.

“Goodbye, brother!” he glares as Thor pushes himself up. “No one will dare challenge my rightful claim to the—” but before he can finish his sentence, Thor smirks and smashes his hammer on the ground, lightning snaking up on to Loki’s arm and destroying the stone he was using with a blinding light.

“Huh, will you look at that . . . the Trickster has been tricked!”

“By a mere mortal?!” he growls, his hand glowing a dangerous green but before he can do any damage, Thor grabs him by the collar.

“No, Brother. He is no mere mortal; he is the Man of Spiders.”  
Loki turns to glare at him as his giants begin to retreat. “Stay on your guard, Spider-Man, for the rest of you useless life!” he exclaims as he disappears in a flash of green.

“Yeah, yeah. Someone’s a sore loser.” He snorts as we all relax. Thor peeks in to his father’s chamber with a soft smile.

“Ah, my father still sleeps. Shh!” he shushes us and leads us a few feet away to open up another portal. Dandy.

After leaving our weapons with Eitri, who promises us to keep them safe, we’re brought back to the museum and I couldn’t be happier. If I go through one of those things one more time I think I might hurl . . .

“Thank you again, young heroes. Your name shall be sung in the halls of Valhalla!” Thor thanks us with a grin.

“I’d be alright with a T-shirt, or one of those weapons!” Spidey says, to which Thor laughs.

“The Dwarfs will keep them safely locked away until you need them once again. But perhaps this will satisfy?” he says gesturing to a smaller portal. “A traditional gift to the heroes of Asgard!”

A two headed ram . . . thing with blue eyes and a golden saddle steps through, bleating as its eight legs shuffle across the floor.

“Aww, cute!” I say stepping up to pet it. It leans in to my hand, licking my palm.

“Awesome! But how are we gonna share this?” Spider-Man asks as the others whole heartedly agree that it was all his.

“As long as I can visit!” I say as it chews on a piece of grass it brought with it.

“Yes!” he calls out, coming over to pet I, only to bite his hand. “Ouch!” he yelps, hopping up and down.

“Huh, déjà vu . . .” I mutter. I guess this means we won’t be able to keep it . . .

 


	7. The Spider

As a kid, I would always imagine myself dressed up in super cool duds patrolling around good old N.Y.C, saving people and fighting crime. I could remember tying a blanket over my shoulders and running around the living room in our old house, pretending to fly while my mom made dinner.

Peter’s Aunt May would come over with him in tow, and we would pretend to be fighting crime together as him as my sidekick. He didn’t like it, of course but we would always switch roles depending on whose house we were in.

Being the hero was something he was always wanted to do and now . . . he could.

“ _Ari, can you hear me?_ ” his voice rings into my ear as I vault over another rooftop. It’s around nine P.M. and we’re doing a routine patrol around downtown Brooklyn.

“Loud and clear Spidey, what’s up?”

“ _Just checking in. Find anything on your end?_ ”

“Nope, it’s surprisingly quiet. What exactly are we looking for anyway?” I ask, pausing for a moment to check the map installed on my watch. Looks like he was nearby according to the red and blue light that was flashing on the screen.

“ _SHIELD noticed a weird pattern of missing kids around our age. Fury doesn’t know what’s up, so he’s been having us comb through the ever lovely boroughs of New York City._ ”

“That sucks . . . Since when has this been happening?”

“ _A couple of weeks, it’s been bugging me ever since Doc Oc escaped after that episode with Iron Man’s armor._ ”

“Another one of your gut feelings? Those don’t tend to be wrong . . . most of the time.”

“ _Hey! How was I supposed to know that raccoons make the same sound as alley cats!?_ ”

“Tell that to your aunt’s decorative pillows.”

“ _Yeah, yeah she forgave me . . . eventually. Although, I do know another instinct I’m right about~_ ” he lilts as I frown. For the past few days (more like weeks) Iron Fist and I had been assigned teamed missions since my joining the team evened things out in the group. It wasn’t anything too serious, just recon and a few encounters with a few notorious baddies.

It didn’t help that my heart wanted to jump out of my chest like a classic cartoon character whenever we were together though.

I can feel my face heat up at the thought of him. Ever since the day at Coney Island, that hadn’t been exactly the end of our . . . outings. They weren’t dates. Not even in the slightest (and if you’re laughing at me right now, shove it!) he would help me with my concentration since I still had those weirdly real dreams and he would show me a couple of moves since he is our resident kung-fu master. That was especially helpful since Fury was upping the difficulty on my training.

If it wasn’t for the fact that I had daily training sessions with the others, I would feel that some other worldly force was trying to push us together . . .

“Put a cork in it, we’re only friends.”

“ _You mean how Coulson and my Aunt are ‘just friends’?_ ” he says and I swear I can practically see him making the air quotations. Oh, wait, I can. He’s sitting on a roof ledge, looking out into a neighborhood. I feel an evil smile creep up to lips as I creep towards him, my footsteps light and stealthy. “ _Seriously Ari, you two are always together and it isn’t like he’s a bad guy. I mean, he’s a little out there but—_ ”

“Thanks for the advice, Spider-Cupid!” I shout into his ear as he jumps and flips off the side of the roof. I would have been worried if he didn’t catch himself on the edge.

“Bell! You! Put!” he stammers as I laugh and sit down beside him.

“Oh please, like you could keep one on me. So, find anything interesting?”

He glares at me before sighing and flipping back up next to me. “No, but something feels . . . off about these abductions.”

“Did you hack into the SHIELD data base?” I ask knowingly as he shrugs and arm.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I roll my eyes as he continues. “Anyway the kids that were taken . . . they range from middle school to a little over _our_ age and it isn’t just them running away that’s for sure.”

I can see his shoulders tense at the mention of the kids and I throw him a sympathetic look he doesn’t see. Peter was always a bleeding heart kind of guy no matter how many smart remarks he made.

“Are most of these kids just off the street or . . ?”

“That’s the thing, it’s kind of just random. Some of these guys get nabbed regardless if they have a family or not, rich or poor—and we’re not coming up with any leads.”

“. . . They couldn’t have just disappeared and there has to be some kind of pattern here . . . Fury hasn’t told you anything?”

“Pshh, you know how he is. His secrets have secrets. Says we can’t get involved too deep.”

I look down at the people below, taking in this information. _Random_ _kidnappings_ . . . _why does this sound so familiar?_ I’m shaken from my thoughts when Spider-Man claps me on the shoulder

“We should get going. Even if we didn’t see anything, Mister Director still wants a report.”

“Oh yay.” I mutter, looking forward to it just as much as my oral assignment on alternative energy. I was excited about it the first time, but after being assigned to it for the fourth time, it gets to be kind of tedious.

 

The next day at lunch time, I opt to skip to go to the library to do some more ‘research’ on my paper. I had finished it already, but I had to tell the librarian _something_ for her to let me in. I head for the computers, setting my bag down beside me before taking a seat and booting up the screen. If my hunch is right (and they rarely are in cases like this) Peter’s intel on the kidnappings might have been the memory jogger I needed.

I type in a few keyword searches, looking for any mass abductions from three years ago but unfortunately only come up for hits far away from New York. I narrow down my search a bit and start to look through old news reports of anything like Peter described and came up on a familiar case.

**Woman, 35, Killed In Hit And Run.**

I feel a sting in my chest as I take in a deep breath to steel myself then began reading.

_Francine Kateri was struck by a speeding black van that crashed into a lamppost after colliding with her body after she pushed a young boy away from the oncoming vehicle. The van’s driver was pronounced dead on site while she was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead that following night. The young boy identified as Michael Hoy, who was abducted from his school not two weeks before the incident, only suffered minor injuries and was reunited with his family._

I stare at the picture of the scene that the newspaper took, then at the side by side picture of my mother and Michael and his family. I silently sigh, clicking on a link that underlined the kidnapping portion of the article. The case was still unsolved apparently and there hadn’t been any leads in it since the incident.

Pushing my chair away, I lean back against it, placing my hands over my eyes as I try to fight off the memories of that day. The ringing of the ambulance, the shouting of the paramedics and doctors . . . the waiting . . .

I hear the faint buzzing of my cellphone go off beside me and look to see Peter calling me.

“I’m in the library, what’s up?” I whisper as I hear him quiet down Sam in the background.

“ _Library? What for?_ ”

“Research? Why, what’s up?”

“ _Uh . . . huh. Anyway, Fury wants us pronto. Meet up at the detention room._ ”

“On it, see you then.” I say as I pack my stuff up and run out the door. We met there halfway since the distance between the two rooms are fairly close and I fight a grin when my eyes land on them.

“Where the heck did you disappear off to?” Sam asks as we open the door to the room.

“Just looking some stuff up in the library. I think I might have found something on those kidnappings.” I answer as Peter gives me a surprised look.

“Seriously? How?”

“I’ll fill you in if it’s what Fury wants to talk to us about!” I say taking a seat as the floors slide from under me. Darkness engulfs me as I near a bright white light and in a flash I appeared inside the Helicarier—dressed in my uniform at that!

I still have no idea how that happens . . .

The others land a few seconds later with the exception of Nova who flies.

“Glad you could make it,” Fury greets us as his one eye scans over us. “We’ve recently acquired more information on the recent kidnappings that’s been happening around the city. I’m sure _Spider-Man_ has filled you in on the situation?” he says giving the web hero a pointed look.

“Yeah, it’s been happening for the past couple of months, right?” Power-man says as we’re led into the briefing room.

“There was another one reported this morning at around Six A.M.” White Tiger announces, scrolling through a holographic file on her watch. “Bethany Langer, seventeen. She was out with friends when she disappeared after using a restroom in the movie theater they were at.”

“Why did they take so long to report it?” I ask as Iron Fist takes a seat by me.

“Miss Langer wasn’t exactly a strait-laced student.” Fury answers as her file appears in the middle of the table. She is a pretty red head with pale skin and bright green eyes.

“Party girl huh? She’s pretty hot.” Sam comment as I hear Tiger scoff.

“So what’s the lead then?” Spider-Man asks, eager to find out and to be honest I was too.

“Ari.”

“What?!” my eyes widen as the others turn to me, just as surprised. “W-why would I know anything about this?”

“Let me clarify then; three years ago, your mother saved the life of a young boy that we believe was abducted by the same people who are back at it again. We still don’t know how, but he managed to escape them.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“We were hoping you could fill in some blank spots in the report.”

“I told the officers all that I knew; I was with my mom when it happened, I saw her follow that kid into the street and then that van showed up. I never even got to see the face of the guy driving it . . .” I reply, crossing my arms with a huff. Why was he even mentioning this? My mom had nothing to do with any of this! She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time . . .

“Lay off her Fury, she’d been through enough so let’s not bring up any painful memories and stick to finding these guys, yeah?” Spider-Man says much to my relief.

Fury merely stares at me for a beat before continuing again. “We’ve been coming through our data banks for anything related to this incident and we found some rather . . . unpleasant connections.” A map of the world popped up then with dozens of red markers scattered all around it. A dense collection around New York, Dakota, California and North Carolina and that was just in the U.S.A.!

“These are the area’s that mostly come up when things like this happen and to make it worse, we realized that these random kidnappings . . . aren’t so random.” He continues. “We didn’t think anything of it at first, but around every two to three years there’s been an influx of missing teen reports.”

“Every two years? How did you guys think nothing of it?!” Spider-Man exclaims, slamming his hands onto the table.

“Believe me, I want to get these guys just as badly as you do. We don’t know what they do to these kids and we don’t know where their base of operations are but we can’t do that if they keep dropping off the map.” I flinch at the tone of his voice, harsh and bitter as he looks at the rotating globe.

I break the awkward silence with a cough, looking at the team with my best hopeful smile. “Since we don’t know much yet, the best we can do is up the patrol route, right?”

“At this point, yes.” The Director replies, folding his arms behind his back. “We’ll update you on anything we come across and—” a red light begins to flash across the screen, the map zooming in to three different areas near uptown Manhattan. “Looks like you’re on.

 

The rush to the different locations was a fairly easy one because of SHIELD transportation but we had to split up, two to an area, and I’m teamed up with Iron Fist this time. I had a feeling Spider-Man had something to do with hit since he ‘assigned’ us as he rushed off with Luke.

Sneaky Spider . . .

The area we were at now was an underground subway tunnels and judging by the state of it, it’s abandoned.

“Creepy abandoned subway, eh? This should end well.” I joke as the blond lit up the tunnels with a glowing fist. “Why do you think there was signal all the way down here?” I ask scanning the walls. The smell wasn’t exactly pleasant, but after living in New York for so long one gets used to the scent of garbage mixed with car fumes.

Ode de sewer.

“Director Fury mentioned that the abducted children came from different kinds of life. Unfortunately, there are those who come from broken homes.” He answers quietly, our footsteps echoing off the cracked walls.        

“. . . And it’s easier to take kids that no one will miss?” I utter as we come across a large gap between us and the other side of the tunnel. It’s littered with forgotten debris and storage containers. I lean down, noting broken splinters of what seemed to be a bridge that connected them together. “Looks like we’re in the right spot. Race you to the other side?”

He smiles down at me, overlooking the area before nodding. “You’re on. Any terms?”

“Hmm . . . No touching the ground and last one there buys dinner. I’m in the mood for Italian by the way.”

“’Confidence begets confidence’, Ari.” He smirks.

What the heck did ‘beget’ mean?

“On three. One . . . two . . . three!” we both jump apart, Iron Fist opting to use the junk that was scattered around the chasm. I use the high road, using my gauntlet hook to launch myself on to a wooden beam. I teeter a bit as the rotting wood creaks beneath me but keep pushing myself forward to not give it enough time to collapse.

“That was a bit unfair, wasn’t it?” he calls out as he looks up to me.

“Last time I checked, mystic kung fu powers verses normal girl who works in the circus wasn’t exactly ‘fair’ either.” I laugh as I jump to another connecting beam, catching myself with my hands and using the motion to flip over to the other side.

It was only a little bit more till the other side, and if I can jump off this oncoming crosspiece I—

I hear a crack as I land on the beam I was going to use and I look down in time to see said crosspiece break beneath my foot and I feel myself falling as I let out a curse. The height didn’t really affect me, but I was going to lose! I readied my gauntlet to catch myself, but before I can shoot it I feel a pair of strong arms catch me, landing expertly onto the other side.

“Looks like I win.” Iron Fist gently teases as I pout and cross my arms, grateful for my mask that hides the blush that spreads across my face.

“I call technical difficulties. Thanks for the catch though, ever the valiant knight.” I grin as he sets me down. “So it looks like I owe you . . . again. Same vegetarian spot?”

“I graciously accept your offer.” He says with a bow as I stick my tongue out at him. I look forward to the darkening tunnel that stretches ahead of us, our little racing area was at least lit up by a few broken parts in the ceiling but up ahead was nothing but black. I narrow my eyes, taking a deep breath and concentrating on my vision as a bright white trail lights up before us.

I feel a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach at the slight red tint of it. “Iron Fist . . . I think someone’s hurt.”

“What can you see?”

“A trail, it’s kind of messy but it’s distinctive.” I answer, leading the way.

“There are voices further down.” he whispers as the voices became more prominent.

“L-let go of her!” I hear a male’s voice shout, the sound of a struggle clearly echoing out. Iron Fist and I exchange a look before we rush towards the scene, him trailing behind me as I follow my senses.

What we arrived to see wasn’t exactly something we expected to see. A group of three teens were fighting off a giant robotic spider-like machine. It was about as three times as tall as me and twice as wide. It brings down a clawed leg down onto a boy a little younger than us with ratty clothes and dark hair, who was protected by an older girl with tanned skin and short dark hair tied up into bun.

“Don’t just sit there J!” she calls out at she fends off another attack with a metal pole. “Help Sasha!” The boy nods, getting over his shock as he scurries over to a little girl who was cowering in the corner. Her pink shirt is covered in dirt and grime from the floors as a second robo-spider advances towards her, readying a cannon that began to glow with an eerie green light.

“Shall we?” I say as I head to the spider that was attacking the little girl. I knock the cannon away with a well-placed kick, making it shoot a nasty looking web-like substance to the walls as I land in front of the girl I heard was named Sasha. “I don’t think Petey would be too thrilled to see someone stealing his shtick!” I turn to her with a slight smile, kneeling down to her level. “You okay?”

She sniffles a bit, rubbing her big blue eyes with her hands. “Y-yes . . . are you here to help us?”

“That’s right! Stay low, okay? Don’t want you getting caught up in anything.” I say as I turn back to the robot, who turned its beady green eyes to me. It let out a loud mechanical screech as Sasha yelps and runs for cover in the opposite side of the room. The spider is about to go for her but I jump and threw three of the electromagnetic disks that Maggie made for me, making it go into a twitchy convulsion as it falls into a heap on the floor.

I glance over to Iron Fist, who just smashes through its abdomen, officially putting it out of commission.

Well that was easy . . .

“Sasha!” I hear the boy call out as he runs to her, wrapping her up in his arms. “Thank God you’re okay . . .” he breathes.

“I’m okay . . . the lady in the mask helped me!” she replies, looking over at me as the boy turned to me with a guarded but thankful nod.

“Thank you . . . but why did you help us?”

“We’re heroes, it’s kinda what we do.” I say as Iron Fist and the older girl walked over to us. I pocket my hands as Iron Fist turns to the trio.

“What are these things? Why were they after you?” he asked as the trio swap knowing glances.

“We’re . . . not exactly sure ourselves but they’ve been on our trial for the past two weeks.” The older girl says, wiping a hand on her worn jeans and holding it out to me. “The name’s Lonnie. This here is Joshua and Sasha, thank you for the help.” I smile, accepting the gesture as she points to her friends.

“Ari, and this is Iron Fist. They’ve been after you for two weeks? How did you escape them?”

“We weren’t always a group of three . . .” Joshua says, glaring at one of the robots. “Those things took two of our friends! We don’t even know where they are now or even if they’re . . .”

“Don’t you think like that!” Lonnie snaps at him. “We can’t _afford_ to go on thinking like that . . .” she says a little more softly.

“If you can, would you mind if we ask for your help then?” Iron Fist asks as Lonnie shoots him an inquisitive look.

“Our help? If you can’t tell, we’re not exactly in the position to offer any _charity_.” Joshua says bitterly, earning a jab to the side by Sasha.

“They helped us Bro, can’t we at least try?”

“But—”

“Sasha’s right J.” Lonnie laughs. “Besides can you even say no to those eyes?”

Joshua looked between the two girls and with a defeated sigh, throws his hands up. “Fine. Whatever.”

Iron Fist bows slightly to show his thanks, then looks to me. “We should contact the others, who knows if there are any more lurking in the darkness?” he says as I glance down at my watch.

“On it. Director Fury, are you there?” I say into the screen, walking away a bit for some privacy. I wait a few moments but nothing comes in. Weird. I’ve gotten reception with this thing in the F train for Gods sakes! _No one_ gets reception on that line!

I shake my wrist a bit in hopes of getting it to work, but no luck. I didn’t even have Maggie to contact since my earpiece was getting repaired after the incident at the island on that snow day we had. Long story short: Sandman plus high tech gear plus sea water does not a good combination make, but that was beside the point.

In my persuasive maintenance, I notice a movement from the corner of my eye and pale when I see something sharp glint in the dim lighting—It’s heading straight for the group!

Without a second thought, I shout for the group to get down and push the nearest person down (which was Joshua) to the ground as the others hit the floor. I hiss as I feel something cut into my arm and look up to see another one of those spider machines lower itself from the ceiling.

“Crap, don’t these things ever give up?!” Lonnie hisses as the spider hops over to its fallen brethren, releasing some kind of acid that began to melt away at the metal until it was nothing but a puddle of goo. Gross . . .

“Ari! Are you alright?” Iron Fist asks me as I stand, holding my arm.

“Fine, just a scratch. This one looks bigger and badder than the others. We have to get them out of here!”

“Already on it.” He says as he lets out a battle cry, his fist lit aglow as the spider dodged the hit and counters with five missiles that it blasted from its side. He dodges them, hitting one to the wall to make a hole large enough for us to escape. “Get them to safety. I’ll be right behind you!” he shouts out as he caught a clawed leg between his hands.

“You heard the man, let’s move!” I say as Sasha goes through first, followed by Joshua and Lonnie.

“Is that guy gonna be okay?” she asks me as we begin to tread our way through the forgotten tracks.

“He’s tough, and he knows what he’s doing.” I say, although that doesn’t stop the worry that begins to eat away at me when we no longer hear their fight. “Keep heading straight up, then make a left at the next tunnel.”

“How do you know where we’re going?” Joshua asks me as I flash him a smile.

“Superhero, remember?”

“. . . Don’t seem too super to me.” He mutters, earning a scoff from Lonnie.

“Don’t mind him, he’s always cranky,” she whispers over to me. “Lost his parent’s because of those things over in Cali. Sasha’s the only family he has left . . .”

I know that pain well, despite knowing that my Father was still alive he may as well been . . . “Don’t worry, we’re going to put a stop to all those things happening.” I say, feeling a sinking sensation in my stomach as my vision blurs for a second.

What the hell?

I shake it away, chalking it up to the pungent smell of rotting food and garbage that litters the tracks.

In front of us, Sasha and Joshua stop as if frozen. Lonnie let out a silent curse because in front of us was another Spider. How many of these things were there?!

“Lonnie, take the others in the opposite direction and hide. I’ll take this one.” I say, reaching into my pockets for some more bombs.

“Are you sure? You ain’t looking too hot.”

“Eh, I’ve been through worse. Now go on.”

She gives me a worried look but ushers the younger kids to stay behind her. “Be careful.”

I nod and as soon as they’re out of sight, I turned to the Spider, willing my vision to focus as I sprint past it. “Hey ugly; this way!” I shout as I slide underneath a lowered grate. I must have pissed it off enough since it starts chasing me and I pray there weren’t any more as I turn to face off with it. It seemed to observe me before springing up and trying to trap me underneath its massive body.

I roll out of the way before it could crush me, pinning another EMP bomb underneath it but unlike the other one, it merely makes it twitch as it shakes it off before tilting itself back onto its hind legs and letting out an earsplitting screech.

I let out a cry of pain as I triy to focus on it, but the thing rushes at me and slams me to the wall, knocking the air out of me. I crumbled to the ground, fighting the urge to puke as it towers over me, its fangs unfolding out of its head as I give it what I think is my weakest glare. My entire body is numb and I feel as if there were dozens of different voices all yelling at once in my mind. Even my Eagle Vision wasn’t working.

I raise my arm up, aiming my gauntlet between its eyes. _Like hell I’m gonna go out without a fight._

I’m about to shoot it in to its ugly face but before I can, a large rock is thrown at it.

Wait. What?

I turn to see Sasha throwing rock from a pile she was carrying and I instantly feel a wave of fear for the girl as I shout for her to run. The Spider wastes no time in jumping over to her, its abdomen opening up as she lets out a scream.

“Sasha!” I shout as I force my body to move, but the only thing I can manage is to push her out of the way as the walls close in on me. I press my hands against them, the darkness blinding me as a bubble of panic pushes past everything I was feeling.

“Ari!” she her shrieks as I hear others approaching. “Please help her! Ari’s in there!”

“What?!”

“Iron Fist!” I call out, slamming against the walls as the spider jumps, knocking me to the side. I can hear a crashing sound as I continued try to free myself in vain. _Crapcrapcrapcrap!_ I can’t set off any explosives and my watch was still out of service—what the hell am I supposed to do?! I hear a hissing sound come from beneath me as I a mist surrounds me. I take in a deep breath, trying to hold out for as long as I can but it was only a matter of time before I give in and the smoke begins to engulf me.

I wasn’t sure when I passed out, but I can feel myself slump against the smooth surface of the Spiders abdomen and the last thing I hear was Danny calling out to me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note:  
> Well, well! Is that plot I sense? This chapter was a little fun to edit! It was originally meant to be split up in to two separate chapters, but I felt that would have ruined the pacing of the chapter since this is going to be a pretty big turning point for Ari’s development. I hope you all will enjoy what’s in store for our heroin!  
> Now this little break was planned, it wasn’t like I completely forgot to update . . . this time. I just thought it would have been a nice little pause before the plot get’s rolling. I will warn you guys though, there won’t be a lot of Danny/Ari fluff for a little bit . . . apologies! But it will be worth it!  
> Thank you to all who read this story. Every time I see that little hit counter go up, I get the goofiest grin on my face. Seriously, thank you!  
> Any questions, comments, predictions feel free to either send me an e-mail or a comment below!
> 
> Have a lovely night!


	8. The Search

 

                                                                                       Peter’s Point of View

 

Out of all the crappiest days I’ve had since I started swinging around New York as Spider-Man this week takes the top spot of all of them. Ever since Ari went missing after that alert, things had just spiraled downwards. Anything that could possibly put a track on her was sending out ghost signals all over town, and it was becoming harder and harder face the fact that she was officially missing. Explaining that to MJ and Harry wasn’t exactly easy either . . . and the people at Aigile were worried sick about her especially Madam Paola. Ever since her mom died, she’d been looking after Ari and this cut through to her no nonsense attitude like a knife.

Then there was the incident with Norman Osborn and Doc Oc.

It was one thing having to deal with the search for Ari, school and SHIELD stuff, but when your best friend’s dad turns into a giant rampaging Goblin bent on destroying you and going after said best friend it tends to leave one emotionally exhausted. To make things _better_ (note the sarcasm) the Helicarrier was crashed thanks to said Goblin and now any leads we had on Ari’s case was underwater and swimming with the fishes.

Ooh. Not a good choice of words . . .

Since then, the team has moved in with me and Aunt May and although it’s cramped at least we’re all together. We’ve all been taking it pretty hard but out of all us our resident fortune cookie had taken the hardest hit. Ever since that day, Danny had blamed himself for letting Ari get captured. Even though we all told him it wasn’t his fault, I could still see the guilt eating away at him whenever we would get an update from Fury.

So yeah, not exactly a golden week.

Whatever’s out there, just please, _please,_ let her be okay . . .

 

So, now I’m here, sitting in my living room surrounded by Sam, Ava, Luke and Danny when the doorbell rings. I let out a soft groan at the interruption—it wasn’t often we got some down time and were all together with no crime or school or SHIELD business. I opened the door and looked around to see no one there until a soft voice cleared their throat to direct my attention downwards.

“Whoa!” I took a step back in shock at the little girl standing in front of me. “S-Sasha?” I ask as she giggles and nods. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you . . . new dress?”

“Yeah! The Eye-Patch Man gave it to me as a present!”

_Huh, who knew Fury had a soft spot for kids?_ “So what’s up? Are Lonnie and your brother with you?”

“Sasha, we told you not to run off!” I hear a voice call out as I spot the darker haired boy run up to my doorstep.

“She wouldn’t have to if you would walk faster.” Lonnie says walking casually behind him. “Hey Parker, sorry for the uncalled visit. Sasha here was just itching to see you guys.”

“It’s no problem at all, come on in.” I say opening the door wider to let them through.

Since Ari’s disappearance, these guys have been helping Fury try to locate those things that took Ari. Since they were being chased for so long, they came in to contact with some other kids around the city to see if they could find anything on those Spider robots. Turns out whoever made those things are in connection with the kidnappings that Fury was talking to us about a few months ago.

Go Figure, huh?

“So any news yet on your end?” I ask Lonnie who frowned as the others turn to look at us.

“No, not yet. I know a group in the Bronx we rode with a few months ago seen them roaming around their turf but the weird thing was that only one of their group members got nabbed.”

“Why only one when those things were so hell-bent on going after you guys?” Sam asks from his position on the ground. He managed to pause his game for two seconds to speak; what a miracle!

“They were hit with something that made them sick, then those Spiders would only target them like some kind of homing beacon.” She replies, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.

“Was Ari hit with one of those things?” Ava asks.

“She was hit with something, that it certain . . . but she said she was okay.” Danny verifies quietly. Sasha made a small sound as she padded over to him, taking his hand in her tiny one.

“Ari is okay—I know it! So please don’t be sad . . . if we give up, how will we ever find her?”

Danny blinked a little before a warm smile spreads across his face and he nods. “Yes, you’re right. Negative thinking won’t bring about any positive ones. Thank you, Sasha.”

The blue eyed girl beams, hopping over back to Joshua’s side who smiles lightly as he pats her head.

“Good job, Sis.” He murmurs.

I suddenly feel a bit more energized after her little speech, and I think the others were too. The air felt a little lighter now.

“I know today’s our day off and everything . . .” Luke said, adjusting his arm that was still wrapped in a cast. “But who’s up for some recon around town?”

“I’m game! I was getting sleepy sitting around here anyway.” Sam said standing up and stretching his arms.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” I say grabbing my keys as the others followed behind me.

_Don’t worry, Ari; we’re on our way!_

                                                                               

* * *

 

 

                                                                                              ??? Point Of View

 

I wake up with a pounding headache, my vision coming back to me in snips and tidbits of white and black. I’m laying down on a firm surface, not a floor, but too hard to be a bed.

“I think she’s coming to . . .” I hear a voice say, but they sound muffled and far away.

“Don’t stand too close to her, she looks like she’s about to barf.” Another much deeper voice says.

I push myself up into a sitting position, placing a cool hand on my forehead as I adjust to my surroundings. The first thing I see is a barred window, covered by some kind of glass that was covered in hexagonal patterns. Then a ceiling with bright florescent lighting and white-washed walls.

I let out a tiny groan as I feel sweep of nausea hit me like a tidal wave as I place a hand over my mouth to keep from vomiting all over myself and am thankful when a pale hand pushes an empty bucket over to me. I empty out whatever was left in my stomach into it, the acrid smell making me feel even worse as I wipe my mouth after I finish.

The same hand that handed me the bucket passes a half filled water bottle to me and I look up into the warm brown eyes of a girl that seemed to be around nineteen. “Here . . . it’ll make you feel better.”

I try to speak as I take it, to thank her, but all that came out was a strangled cough that makes me down in. I didn’t even care what was in it, for all I know it could have been laced with something but I was too disoriented to care. “T-thank you . . .” I say, my voice rough.

“We have to look out for each other here so it’s no problem at all.” She says with a slight accent. English? Maybe Scottish? “Do you remember anything? Anything at all?”

I try to think back to how I got here, but nothing seemed to come to mind and every time I did a sharp pain in the back of my mind made me not want to. “No . . . god I feel like shit . . .” I curse, hearing a small gasp. A little boy covers his ears, his shaggy brown hair trickling into his pale green eyes. “S-sorry . . .”

“Its fine, he’s just a little sensitive. I’m Simone by the way. The little boy over there is Tracey and over here we have Connor. The boy up there in the top bunk is Ax. His real name is Alex but he hates being called it,” she whispers over to me. “So what’s your name?”

“Um . . .” I rub my forehead, thinking hard through the fogginess as the letters came to me.

“Hmm?”

“Ari. That’s my name . . . I think.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Ari. Welcome to IVY.”

  

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:  
> I think out of all the chapters I’ve written for this series, I believe this one is the shortest! A couple of months have passed by between the last chapter and this one, the aforementioned episodes were stated above by Pete, but I’ll leave the amount of time to you guys. I’m kind of excited to see how this goes!  
> There will be some Point of View changing in the next few chapters, so please forgive me if anyone seems a little out of character. I feel like I could have been a little snarkier for Peter’s spot. Heheh.  
> A few more Oc’s are going to be popping up, but Simone, Tracey, Ax and Connor have a special place in my heart. They were originally supposed to only last a couple of chapters, but I managed to get attached to them . . .   
> Keep an eye out for them in future chapters!  
> Thank you all for reading! You guys are the best!
> 
> -MissHattress.


	9. The Dream

                                                                        Ari’s Point of View

 

I don’t know how long I was in this place Simone called IVY, but looking out through the tiny window that was placed in the door only provided me with the same view; rows and rows of white walls and floors with identical doors. Sometimes there would be others, looking out, but they never spoke. Their eyes would look back at me in a daze, and somewhere deep down I felt like something was wrong. Like, I shouldn’t _be_ here, but every time I think anything like that or ask the others about how they got here, I would feel the neckband that we all wore give out a loud beep and then a piercing sensation. I couldn’t remember what happened after that, only feeling a sensation of flying as the world blurred around me and when I came to I was sitting on my bed, staring at the wall.

Why couldn’t I remember anything while that happened? What the hell was going on?

I shake my head, afraid that if I dig in too deep again it would happen again. I was _scared_ that it would happen again . . .

I quietly observe the others as they sit in a circle, playing some kind of game with their hands to pass the time.

I learned that Tracey, the youngest, couldn’t speak and had to communicate with a pad of pen and paper he always carries. His large green eyes were incredibly expressive though, and sometimes he didn’t really need to write anything down.

Connor and Alex are around the same age as me and although they weren’t related, they were always sitting real close to each other. Connor reminds me of someone I know, I think. With messy thick dark hair and even darker eyes that shined with playfulness. His skin is lightly tanned, and he has a kind of boyish look for his age and is a little taller than me with a lean body and a mole underneath his left eye.

Alex is almost the complete opposite. He isn’t as pale as Simone, but his copper-hued hair that was cut short and parted to the side. His grey eyes are always narrowed into a kind of bored glare and unlike Connor, he is rather muscular. Sometimes I would see him doing pushups or pull-ups near his bunk. I’m pretty sure he and Connor are together, but nothing was ever said.

Simone is most likely the sweetest person I think I could ever meet in my life. She is nineteen, the oldest, and since day one she was always asking if I was okay and how I was adjusting. Tracey stuck to her like glue, and I could tell he adored her with every fiber of his being. Her blonde hair was curly and was tucked back behind her ears and ended at her shoulders. It seemed to puff up at the tips and it kind of reminded me of Goldilocks.

From what I could tell, we weren’t the only kids here at least, but no one would ever pass by. It was like this place was completely empty besides us.

At least that’s what I think.

“Ari, come over and play with us. Beats just sitting there watching us like some fussy house cat.” Simone giggles, waving a hand over.

“O-oh sorry, I was just . . . thinking.” I say unfolding my legs and plopping over to sit next to her.

“You’re too quite.” Ax grunts, leaning against the wall. “It’s creepy.”

“Ax!” Connor berates, slapping his shoulder. “Don’t mind him, he’s just grumpy.”

“Ax is _always_ grumpy, Con.” Simone says with a snicker as the redhead shoots her a glare. “Oh don’t give me that look, we all know you’re just a big teddy bear.”

“Oh shut it Blondie, since the new girl’s joining, why don’t we start over?”

“What are you guys playing?” I ask as Connor turns to face me.

“Odds and Evens. Basically we each decide what we want to call, odds or evens and then on three we hold out one or two fingers and tally them up. Depending on the total, if it’s even the people who call even win and whoever calls odds win. Simple, eh?”

I nod slowly, running through the rules in my head. “I think so . . ?”

“Heh, get set to get wrecked newbie. I am the _master_ of this game.” Ax comments as we begin the game. Since Tracey couldn’t exactly speak, he held out either three fingers or two fingers to indicate odd or even on his left hand and his choice on his right hand.

The first game we played, Tracey and I called even and won.

The second time, Simone and I called even again and won.

The third game, Ax and I called odd and won.

It went on like that for about ten minutes (I guess, since there isn’t really a clock here) and I can tell Ax’s getting pissed off with me and it isn’t until it was just us two playing that he lets out something similar to a roar and throws his hands up in the air.

“That’s it; I’m DONE!” he cries out, leaning back and laying down on the floor. “Damn newbie must be cheating!”

“Looks like the master has been bested! About time too, you were getting way too cocky Red!” Connor laughs patting the taller boy on the leg. I laugh along with him, the others joining in (sans Ax who grumps on the floor) until a piercing pain shoots through my mind. I place a hand on my forehead as I let out a small whimper and I feel Simone place a gentle hand on my shoulder.

“ _I’ll be fine, Red. You worry too much!_ ” I hear a voice that sounds like my own echo around me.

“ _Ari, you have to take a break sometime. I know you love gymnastics but you’ll run yourself ragged!_ ” a familiar voice chides, their voice is worried but I could tell they were smiling.

“ _Can’t do that, if I slack how am I going to impress Madam Paola?_ ”

The other voice sighs. “ _Your mom and her have been friends for a long time haven’t they? You’re a shoe in!_ ”

“ _C’mon Red, you should know by now I won’t accept getting anything just handed to me. I want to impress her with my own skill!_ ”

“ _I know, I know, you’re just too stubborn for your own good._ ”

“ _. . . That’s cold, MJ._ ”

“. . ri! Ari!” I snap back out of whatever the hell that was and look up at the others who are staring at me with wide eyes. Even Ax looks a little worried. “Oh thank god, you’re okay!” she says with an exhale of relief, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “What happened?!”

I blink, waiting for the sensation of the collar to hit me, but it never does. “I think . . . I remembered something?”

“Well did you or didn’t you?” Ax huffs, earning a jab in the side by Connor. “Ow! Really?!”

“Be a little more sensitive will you?” the darker haired boy hisses.

“No, no, it’s fine.” I say, massaging my temples. “There was girl with red hair, I think. She’s my friend and . . . she’s always nagging me.”

The others stare at me for a second before breaking out into laughter.

“That’s the first thing you remember?!” Connor says, slapping at his leg.

“She must be a real friend then.” Ax smirks, crossing his arms and shooting Connor a pointed look.

“That’s great! You’re one step closer to remembering, Ari!” Simone calls out as Tracey tugged at my pant leg. He gave me a tiny smile and I feel a swell of happiness in my chest. Maybe this would be it; the first step!

For the first time in I don’t know how long, I felt . . . hopeful. At least, I did until our doors slam open and a cold chill blows in. Simone pushes Tracey behind her and in an instant, a mechanical whirring drifts in. I begin to shiver, seeing the shadow of a giant spider-like robotic creature before it stomps in; its glowing green eyes focusing on me.

“W-what is that thing?!” Connor utters, his eyes wide as his voice shakes.

The Spider lets out a roar as it slowly makes its way to me. I begin to back up; using my hands and feet to push myself away from it.

“Get away from her!” Ax shouts, swinging his pillow at it. I would have laughed at the sight of it, but that was cut short when the thing swipes a large mechanical leg at him and slams him to the wall.

“Ax!” I cry out, and the spider takes this moment to spit out some kind of web-like fluid around my ankle. I scream, clawing at the ground as it begins to drag me away. Simone and Connor try to grab me, but the web is too strong. The call out my name, trying to go after my arms one more time but with a final tug I’m forced out of the room. I scream for help with tears in my eyes, looking for anything to latch on to as I watch the door to our room shut with a loud bang.

The last thing I see before the Spider towers over me was our door number.

Room 404.

_Heh_. _Funny_.

Then my vision goes black.

 

                                                            ****Danny’s Point Of View*****

 

I can hear her . . . screaming.

_An idea came to me as Peter, Luke, Ava and Sam were searching for our missing comrade. A lot had happened since her disappearance and although Sasha’s words were comforting, as the days went by it was getting harder and harder to keep hoping that somehow we would find her._

_That was when I remembered the incident with Nightmare and the dream world._

_I could distinctively remember Ari being asleep in the classroom along with the others, but in that world she seemed to be . . . conscious. After I was awaked from the lies Nightmare had shown me, I came across her door. Unlike the others, Ari’s door was significantly darker not just the wood but the very air that came from it sent a shiver down my spine._

_Although I knew it would have been an invasion of her privacy, I entered. No one’s dreams should be that bleak, mystical interference or not. When I stepped inside, I noticed that there was a lack of light. The room was completely shrouded in darkness save for a tiny light in the distance._

_I could hear something . . . was someone crying?_

_“Hello? Can anyone hear me?” I say, my voice echoing._

_The voice gasped and the room seemed to come closer to me as the light that was previously in the distance showed to be a little girl with bright brown eyes. Her hair went all the way to her waist and was held back by a yellow headband to match her dress._

_She stepped back, wiping her eyes. “Who . . . who are you?” she asked, her voice tiny._

_“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m looking for a friend of mine . . . Can you help me?”_

_“. . . My Mommy says I shouldn’t talk to strangers.” She answered warily. I smiled a bit, leaning down and lighting my hand up._

_“Did you mother say anything about Superheroes?” the little girl gasped again, this time in wonder as her face was lit up with the glow of Shao-Lao._

_“You’re a Superhero?!”_

_“That’s right. My name in Iron Fist; Namaste, little one.” She pouted slightly, crossing her arms._

_“I’m not that little! I’m almost eight, you know!” she proclaimed proudly._

_I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit— she was far too adorable! “Eight years old huh? That’s a pretty special year, are you going to have a party?”_

_“Yeah!” she said excitedly, but then her face dropped as tears began to form in her eyes again. “My Mommy was taking me to the Zoo for my birthday today . . . but I don’t know where she went.” She sniffled._

_I look around as the scene shifted, the chatter and bustle of people surrounding us as we stood before a giant colorful sign displaying ‘Welcome to the Bronx Zoo!’_

_Well this was certainly different._

_I knew I had to find Ari, and even though this was her door there was no telling where she could be, I had to help this little girl. Dream or no dream._

_“Well, that’s why I’m here then, let’s go find your mother.” I say as she peered up at me with a tilt of her head._

_“What about your friend? Aren’t you looking for her?”_

_“I don’t think she would appreciate me abandoning a little girl—” she gave me a look and I corrected myself. “Sorry, young lady.” She gave a satisfied huff before stretching her hand out to me._

_“Mommy says to use the buddy system! That’s how I got lost in the first place . . .”_

_“She seems like a very wise woman.” We began to walk through the crowds, the little girl looking around._

_“Mm-hmm! She is! She told me if I got lost, to meet her in the Reptile Exhibit, but I got scared . . .”_

_“Of the reptiles?”_

_“Y-yeah . . . they’re scary looking. And they look so mean and angry—I don’t like them.”_

_“One must conquer their fears, lest that fear controls them.” I say as she shot me a puzzled look. “It means you have to face your fears otherwise you’ll always be afraid of them.”_

_“Oh . . . I-I knew that!”_

_“Oh? Did you now?” she was silent for a moment before she looked down, ashamed._

_“N-no . . . but that’s easy for you to say. You’re big; you probably don’t even have anything to be afraid of.”_

_“Being older doesn’t mean I’m not afraid of anything, there’s still a lot that scares me even now.”_

_“Really? But you’re a super hero!”_

_“That I am, but I am still human young one.”_

_She looked down again, as if in thought. “Then . . . it’s okay to be scared? Just as long as I don’t let it con . . . conk—”_

_“Conquer.”_

_She grinned widely, hopping a little. “Yeah, that!”_

_“That’s right.”_

_She stopped suddenly as she stared up at a dark building, littered with pictures of different kinds of species of lizards and factoids. She shivered a bit when a person dressed as an iguana passed by, but took a deep breath and steeled herself. “U-um, Mister Iron Fist? Is that a dragon on your chest?” I nod. “Mommy says dragons are like lizards; I think dragons are pretty cool!”_

_“I thank you then, for the compliment.” I bow as she mimicked me, rather stiffly I might add. “Since we are here, do you see your mother?”_

_She hummed, climbing up onto a high step and scanning the crowd. “Um . . . wait . . . Mommy? Mommy!” she started waving her hands as I turned to see a woman with light brown hair cut into a stylish bob and hazel eyes. Her red coat trailed behind her as she rushed over to the little girl with a cry of relief._

_“Oh thank god! My baby!” her arms wrapped around the little girls frame as they embraced and I couldn’t help but feel a pang of nostalgia at the memory of my own mother. “Are you alright? Anything injured? Don’t you ever let go of my hand again!”_

_“I’m fine Mommy,” the little girl giggled, despite the crying state I saw her in earlier. “A super hero saved me!” the woman finally turned to me, blinking a bit before she smiled thankfully._

_“Thank you . . . thank you so much for saving my little Ari!”_

_I stare at the two in shock, shaking myself out of it before I spoke. “A-Ari?!”_

_Before the two could answer, the scene seemed to freeze and everything melted away like it did before._

_“Wait! Ari!” I call out but to no avail. I’m surrounded by darkness again as lampposts begin to spring from the ground, illuminating a path before me and I had no choice but to follow. Grass began to spring up the closer I got to wherever it was I was being led to, and eventually I came across a hunched figure, their head resting on their knees in front of a . . . tombstone._

_“Oh, no . . .” my voice seemed to startle the girl, who I could now tell for certain was Ari only younger than her current self._

_“Who the hell are you?” she growled, her eyes, red and puffy, narrowed in a cold glare._

_“I apologize for interrupting . . . Ari.”_

_A mixture of anger, sadness and annoyance flashed in her eyes as she turned away. “If you’re another one of these damned reporters—I have nothing more to tell you. Leave. Me. Alone!” she shouted. I cringed at her tone. I never heard her sound so . . . furious. I did the opposite and sat beside her in the lotus position I grew so accustomed to from my time in Kun’lun._

_“I am not a reporter, but a friend.” I answer quietly as I read over the name engraved._

_Francine Kele. Beloved Mother, Beloved Wife._

_“I don’t even know you.” she bit back, but didn’t push me away._

_“. . . I know what it’s like to lose people who are dear to you.”_

_That seemed to affect her in some way, as she glanced over to me with a softer look in her eyes. “. . . Sorry.”_

_“It’s alright. If I may say, though, anger doesn’t suit you.”_

_“Yeah well I’m a lot more than angry. I’m pissed off! My heart feels like it’s breaking into a thousand little pieces **over** and **over** again and the only person who could help me is six feet under!” she fumed, gripping at her hair as the lamp posts that were farther away burst._

_“Ari, please, calm—”_

_“Do **not** tell me to calm down! You don’t have any right to! I don’t know anything about your past and I don’t want to!” she roared as more lamps began to go out. A chilling wind began to sweep away fallen leaves as I stare at her sadly. _

_Everything in this world we were in is what she was feeling . . . what she still felt._

_Ignoring the biting wind and falling glass, I did the only thing I could think of to anyone in this much pain._

_I embraced her._

_“W-wha . . ? Let go of me! Let me go!” she cried, banging at my chest._

_“I know what it is you’re feeling. Lost, angry, confused . . . you mustn’t let it conquer you, Ari!”_

_“What the hell do you know?! Why do you even care? You don’t know me!”_

_“I may not know you now, but I will soon . . . and she isn’t anything like this. The Ari I know is warm, and kind. She does her best to keep her friends and others near her happy . . . because she knows how much it hurts to be sad.” The younger Ari slowly stopped trying to claw at my arms, and she began to cry._

_“S-stop it . . .”_

_“I won’t and you know the reason why.” I look down at her, pushing her hair out of her face to stare into her eyes. “You are stronger than this, so don’t let yourself be swallowed by all that sadness and rage. Please, if not for me, then for the people who still care about you.”_

_Ari let out a silent sob as she buried her face into my shoulder, her tears soaking the fabric of my shirt. I didn’t even notice that change. I began to stroke her hair in an attempt to make her feel better as she let out everything in her heart._

 

After Nightmare was defeated back then, Ari had no memory of what happened, or at least I didn’t think so. Every time I tried to bring it up she would brush it aside with another topic.

Still, the encounter I had with her dream selves was rather strange so I asked the only person I knew who knew everything about Dream Walking; Doctor Strange, my mentor. He told me of special cases like this, of people who had deep emotional wounds that would not heal despite the person getting better. If I could reconnect with her dream-selves . . . they could possibly lead me back to Ari’s door and maybe from there she could tell us where she was.

 

There were dangers with this, of course. Seeking out this level of trauma could potentially injure me in the process but I had to try. Doctor Strange couldn’t do it himself because he had to use his power to ensure I could make it back to the waking world.

I had told the others about this, and of course they objected. They said the chances were too high, that they could not risk losing someone else. Of course I persisted; it was my fault that she got captured and I was willing to take this risk . . . for her. I nearly pulled something Peter would do (say for example, sneak out of the house without anyone knowing and doing it anyway) before the Doctor reassured them. When we finally decided to go through with the procedure, my friends bid me good luck as the Doctor began.

“Come back safe, okay?” Ava says with a strained smile. “If possible, _both_ of you.”

“Yeah, Ari still owes me ten bucks!” Sam jokes lightheartedly. “And don’t you dare not come back—you hear?”

Beside him, Luke rolls his eyes before he clapped a large hand on my shoulder. “I think what Sam’s here trying to say is don’t do anything risky. Use your head.”

“. . . If we had to choose anyone to do this, I’m glad it was you.” Said Peter, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked at me with tired eyes. “Tell her we’re still looking for her, and we won’t stop until we find her.”  

I nod once, taking their words to heart as I feel my consciousness slipping away and soon I was met with the familiar swirls of purple and yellow and gold of the Dream World. The looping sand colored path stretch before me as I try to focus on Ari. I didn’t know how long I could stay here after all, so the faster I found her, the better my chances are.

I focus first on her voice, talking to me and the others. Then her face, her smile . . . the way she would enthrall the crowd when she was performing at Aigile. How she would sleep during some classes and then my mind starts drifting to those rare times we were alone together.

I was told by the monks in my home to not get attached to the outside world, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to stay on that path when I’ve met such wonderful friends. They’ve become like my family now but Ari was different, she was . . . special to me. Far more than I could imagine even, and though I know it wasn’t the most conventional relationship, I could not stop my growing feelings for the dark haired performer.

But I know that if these feelings grew into something more, and in some magnificent way she feels the same way I know it would be selfish of me. I would have to return to Kun’lun this year, after all . . .      

In my reverie, I notice a small voice call out to me in the distance. It was very faint, but I can definitely recognize it—it was that younger version of Ari I met when she was separated her mother. When she sees that I’m looking at her, she starts waving her arms frantically, tears streaming down her face.

“Please!” she calls out, running to me to close the gap between us as I ran to her. “Please help her! They’re trying to make her forget—forget Mommy and Peter and MJ and Harry!”

“Slow down, who’s trying to make her forget? And how?” I ask as calmly as I can to the hysterical child.

“Those bad people! The ones who took her . . . every time she tried to remember they give her more of that pink stuff and she’s forgetting!”

I don’t really understand, but when her image starts to flicker I stand. “Can you lead me to her?” she nods, her eyes watering again as she turns and sprints down one of the multiple roads that spreads before us. I follow, the scenery changing as everything melts into fragmented images of a Zoo, as if someone had broken a mirror. “Is this what they’re doing to her?”

“Uh-huh, b-but I don’t know what those people in the white coats want. There are a bunch of other kids too!”

I mull over her words, trying to piece together any detail she could give in her state but it still wasn’t enough.

“Can you tell me where they are?”

“I . . .” Little Ari stops, holding her head as a wave of energy pulsed past us. The area begins to change again with every influx of power. The ground beneath me cracks and rumbles like an angry beast and I grab on to her hand in a vain attempt to stay with her as her spot remains untouched. “They’re doing it again!” she cries as she falls to her knees.

“Ari, please calm down! Don’t let them take you—you’re stronger than this!” I call out, trying to keep my balance and for a split second everything freezes as she looks up at me with wide, terrified eyes.

“Help her.” she says barely above a whisper as I’m yanked away from her, and pulled into the darkness. I hold my hands out, yelling out her name as I attempt to find something to grab on to but with no luck. I feel like I could have been falling forever if not for a warm arm grabbing mine and pulling me in. Grass meets my sandaled feet as teenaged Ari holds me at arms-length, looking up at me. Her face is completely pale and her eyes drained of the light I was so used to seeing.

“. . . Took you long enough, Hero.” She utters, letting go of my arm and dropping hers to her side. We are under a single lamppost that flickers every few seconds and I can see a faint pink light flashing in the distance.

“Please, you have to tell me where she is. The younger you has already asked me to help her— _you_.”

“What, no hello? No words of wisdom?” she scoffs as she wobbles. “I’m trying my best to keep those bastards from getting what’s left of her memories . . . I may not be much, but I damn well know I’m stubborn.”

I shake my head, placing my hand on her shoulder. “You are more than you know, you’re helping her despite the repercussions.”

“Please, I’m nothing more than a self-willed memory . . .”

“The past is what shapes us into the people we will become. You are important.”

She gives me a weak grin as the light began to flicker again at a more rapid pace. “Those fortune cookie tidbits are really growing on me . . .” she says in a strained voice, stepping away and letting my hand fall as she points behind me. “That door right there will lead you to her.” Her hand then grabs the collar of my shirt, pulling me down to her level. “I don’t care what you do, just get. Her. Out.” She pushes me away as I nod, I take a last look behind me to see her gone.

“Thank you.” I whisper as push past the pang of regret and I run through the glowing door. My eyes are greeted with a light so blinding I had to close them to shield them. With a gasp, I look around the vast space; the entire room was like an area in the sky, a brilliant blue with wispy white clouds stretching out for as far as I can see.

Was this even a room?

I test the floor with my foot, it’s solid but at the same time feel like I’m walking on air. Hearing a click, I turn to see the door I just passed through disappear. Beyond the fading silhouette I see a figure on the floor, holding themselves. Their back is facing me but I know without a doubt that it was Ari. _Our_ Ari.

My feet are running to her before I can even think it and I collapse next to her on my knees, my hand outstretched to her when she speaks in a voice so fragile, it breaks my heart.

“Leave me alone . . . no more,” he utters, shaking. “Stop . . . making me see my friends . . .”

I open my mouth to say something, but despite the relief in seeing her again I can’t speak a word. I’m so close to her, and yet I feel so far away . . .

Her hair is shorter, I notice. Much shorter, almost ending a little below her ears. She is dressed in a pair of loose dark grey cotton pants and a tank top that shows she lost a significant amount of weight. This only makes the guilt I feel grow heavier as I bite my lower lip to keep myself together.

“. . . I’m sorry.” I finally say, her vision blurring before me as I screw my eyes shut to keep my tears in. “Ari, I’m so, so sorry. Even if you think I’m a hallucination; even if you think I’m not real, I am. We miss you, and we’re coming to save you so please hold on. Don’t let whatever it is they’re doing to you make you give up.” My hands are shaking at this point, my fists tight as they rest on my lap.

All the stress and pain I felt these past few weeks finally pours out of me and I think for sure she doesn’t hear me, when I feel a warm hand on my arm. I whip my head up to see her for the first time in nearly a month and despite her ragged appearance and the bags under her eyes, she smiles. The same brilliant smile she always did.

“Not a fake . . .” she says as I throw my hands out and pull her into the tightest hug I can manage. She wraps her arms around my neck, burying her head in my shoulder like her past-self did. We don’t say anything for a while and I’m not sure how long we stayed that way but she pulls away first, much to my reluctance but my hands still hold on to hers.

She sits on her knees, mirroring my position as she stares at our interlocked hands. “You’re hands are huge.” she comments offhandedly, but I can’t bring myself to laugh.

“Ari—”

“Before you start asking me where I am just . . .” her hands tighten around mine as she sighs. “Let’s . . . let’s just stay like this, even if it’s for a little bit.”

I look down at her; noting that even her face looked skinnier and her eyes are far away. “As much as I would like to—and believe me I do—time is of the essence, Ari.”

She nods, a little longer than necessary. “Yeah . . . yeah.” Her eyes finally met mine and I notice her flinch, but don’t comment on it. “I don’t know where I am, for starters. At least not the location.”

“Can you tell by anyway else?” I ask as a grim smile spreads across her face. She seemed like she wanted to cry, but just couldn’t.

“I can, and that’s why those people are injecting me with more of that happy juice.” She catches my look of confusion and explains further. “I’m remembering, bit by bit. Whatever it is they’re giving us, it makes us forget who we are little by little while they do god knows what to us. I don’t think I’m awake, but I’m not asleep either; neither of us are.

“If I concentrate--and I mean _really_ concentrate--I can see a lab with us stuck in some weird tubes all hooked up to some machine and I can even see past that sometimes. I don’t even know how. I can see a white building shaped like a square with another building inside of that one in some mountain. The cliffs are really high and there’s water behind us. I don’t know if it’s their real name or just some kind of cover, but a girl told me it’s called ‘IVY’.”

A movement down below catches my eye as the area she described morphs before us. I wasn’t sure where it was, but I burn every single detail that I can manage into my brain as she continues.

“Her name is Simone. She and I along with three other kids are stuck in a cell together; Alex, Conner and Tracey. You’d like them. Our room is 404, funny huh?” she laughs, but it sounds hollow to my ears. “Danny . . . I don’t think I’m the same anymore.” I look back to her as the building disappears.

“What do you mean?”

Her eyebrows knit together as her grip tightens on my hands again like a lifeline. “They’re doing something to us Danny. I don’t know what, but if you find me and I’m not . . . me... please, just—”

“If the next words you’re about to say involves hurting you, or worse, forget it.”

“Danny, they could be turning us into _weapons_ for all we know!” she counters looking up at me.

“So we’ll find a way to help you.”

“What if the only way to do that is to _kill_ us?”

“We won’t. I won’t.”

“You’re being unreasonable!”

“You call not wanting to result to lethal force against someone I deeply care for unreasonable?” I utter softly, her eyes growing wide. I feel my ears burn a little at her stare, but I continue. “No matter what we find, we’ll always be here to help you . . . including me.” I move my right hand to rest on her cheek and despite this being a sort-of-dream, she feels all too real. “So don’t ever even mention something like that to me, because no matter what they throw at me I won’t back down. Not now, not ever”

“. . . You have some stubborn streak, Rand.” She laughs, leaning in to my touch.

“I picked it up from someone I know.” Her eyes stare into mine for a moment before she leans in. For a split second, I think she was going to kiss me before she moves upwards and places a kiss on my forehead. I close my eyes, relishing in the sensation before she pulls away.

“If I don’t bust out before you find me, consider that a warm up if you come rescue me like the damsel in distress that I am now.”

I smile, glad that at least a little of her old self was surfacing. “I’ll ride like the wind, Milady, and you are far from damsel in distress.”

“Consider me swooned.” she says as she smiles again, and this time I can’t ignore the pounding in my chest. I pull her down, wrapping an arm around her waist as my other hand goes to her cheek again and I press my lips against hers.

For a moment, I let go of my worries, about not getting attached, about leaving everything I have behind, about the fear I have of not being worthy to wield the Iron Fist and let myself melt into this moment. The feel of her lips on mine, the heat of her body pressed against me and her fingers trailing down my chest. All the discipline and self-control that was embedded into me by years of training, lost by one girl. A girl that in just a few short months became someone so important to me.

She pulls away suddenly, as she lets out a pained groan and clutches her chest, sweat dripping down her forehead.

“Ari . . . Ari what’s wrong?!” I can’t hide the panic in my voice as she gasps and in an instant, the sky room flickers and the clouds begin to fall away.

“T-too . . . much.” She stammers, choking on something as she coughs again. Blood began to trickle down her chin as a feel an invisible force tug at my consciousness.

‘ ** _Daniel we have to bring you back, it’s getting too dangerous!_** ’ I hear the Doctor’s voice echo.

“What? No, not now!” I call out as Ari starts to flicker. A hand at her neck as her free hand reaches for me.

“D-Danny . . . go. You c-can’t . . . stay.”

I try to grab her hand, but I simply phased through as she coughs again. “I won’t—I won’t lose you again!”

“S . . . stubborn boy.” She laughs weakly and with a giant push I’m forced out of the dream. I open my eyes, the worried sight of my friends greeting me as I try to catch my breath.

_I lost her again._

“Easy there Danny,” Peter says steadying me as I shakily get onto my feet. “What happened in there? You were shaking at muttering all different kinds of things!”

“I . . . I found her.” I breathe, and the relief I see in everyone’s eyes should have reassured me but then the pain I saw flash in Ari’s eyes before I was pulled out makes my stomach drop. I push myself away from him, going for the notepad that rested on a small table in the Doctor’s living room as I draw the place Ari showed me to the best of my abilities.

“What the heck is he doing?” I hear Sam whisper.

“Maybe some mystic magic sign?” Peter shrugs. When I finish, I tear is off, presenting it to the others.

“She . . . Ari showed me this place. It’s where she believes she is being held.”

“Danny . . . are you _sure_ this is it?” Peter asks me, his eyes scanning the rough sketch.

“Ari showed it to me herself, I think it would be our best shot.”

“What’s wrong Web-Head? You look like you’ve see a ghost!” Sam says as he looks over the brunettes shoulder.

“This . . . this was the hospital that Ari’s mom was taken to when she got sick. It happened before the accident and I over-heard Aunt May and her talking about it.” He answers gravely his hands shaking.

“What?!”

“What’s the name of the hospital, then? If they’re the ones conducting all these experiments, how are they . . . ?” Ava trails off as her brow furrows.

“The best cover is the most exposed, I guess.” Luke grunts with a frown.

“It was a funny sounding name . . . damn it what was it?!” Peter mumbles a little as the others exchange a few glances. I collapse on to a nearby chair, the Doctor coming over to me and placing a hand on my shoulder.

“You did well, Daniel.” He says lowly with a slight smile. I give him a thankful nod, my lips still tingling slightly. Peter suddenly let out a shout, startling the others.  

“Hedera Helix!” he yells, much to our confusion. “It’s the name of the hospital! Sort of . . .”

“Well then which is it then?” Ava frowns

“Sorry, Hedera Helix is technically its name, a lot of people refer it to Ivy since Hedera Helix is kind of a mouthful.” He grabs his phone from his pocket, typing in a few things on it before turning it to us. “See? Their Icon is a double helix but it’s designed to look like Ivy vines.”

“So then Ari is there right? Well what are we waiting for?! Let’s call Fury and get this rescue mission on the road!” Sam said as Ava’s watch beeped.

“ _We have a few problems with that, Alexander._ ”

“. . . He was totally listening in!” Peter whispers.

“What’s the problem then Director?” Ava asks.

“ _Hedera Helix is a prominent figure in the medical community. They’re also the lead in Cancer research and Disease prevention. Whenever there’s a crisis, they’re the ones supplying all the medical equipment and labor._ ”

“So basically they’re untouchable?” Luke says.

“ _Not completely, but it’s going to be a problem—even for us._ ”

“So what’s the plan then?” Peter says peering into the watch.

“ _Maggie has been working on activating the tracking device that was in Ari’s watch. If we can get that going, we’ll have a basis to infiltrate their facility._ ”

“And if she can’t do that?” I ask next, feeling my strength return to me bit by bit.

“ _Then we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way. Fury out._ ” And the screen goes black.

“Ooh, does he mean a spy mission? Sweet!” Sam exclaims. “We’re gonna go all 007!”

“Don’t forget we’re going to _save_ Ari okay, Bucket Head?” Ava huffs with a frown. “I guess we should head back to the Helicarrier, then.”

“You guys go on ahead,” I say. “I will meet you there soon.”

“Are you sure, man? Do you need one of us to stay behind?” Luke asks and I can’t help but appreciate his concern.  

“Yes, thank you, Luke. I just have to have a few words with the Doctor about the Dream-walking.”

“. . . If you’re sure, then. We’ll fill you in on the details later then.” He says before he and the others file out.

When they’re gone I look to the ground, my arms resting on my knees. “Doctor . . . what do you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“I know that you sensed the darkness that was lingering in Ari’s mind . . . it didn’t seem natural.”

Doctor Strange hums, clasping his hands behind his back as he walks over to his fireplace. “Indeed I did, but I do not know its origin. It seems your friend has some . . . dormant abilities she does not yet realize.”

“Do you mean she has some connection to magic?”

“Not quite. The power seems to stem from something else, if possible I’d like to speak with her. She has quite the potential if she can harness that strength.”

I mull his words over in my mind, my eyes widening as I piece together his riddle-like words.

_If that is the case then . . ._ I stand with new found strength and bow. “Thank you, Doctor. I must go.” I say heading over to the doors in hopes of catching the others.

“Tread carefully Daniel, abilities like hers tend to be . . . unpredictable.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

If what the Doctor says ring true, then these people must be stopped.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors notes:
> 
> Hello there again lovelies!  
> The plot of this story is starting to unravel, it’s making me a little nervous!  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know I did! I had a little trouble thinking of Ari and Danny’s first (sort of) kiss and looking back in my notes it wasn’t even supposed to happen, it just kind of . . . did. I have to say, writing the interactions between Ari, Simone, Tracey, Connor and Ax is a little fun for me! It seems so natural even though they technically knew one another for only a short time.  
> It felt a little odd writing that beginning portion of Danny’s Point Of View since it was a flashback, but I hope it didn’t confuse anyone! If any of you can guess where the plot of this story is going, keep it under your hat! I’m trying to be a little subtle about it, but the more I re-read it the more obvious it seems . . . apologies. ^^;  
> Thank you all for reading, until next time!  
> Also somewhere in this note is a hint for Ari’s ‘change’ but it’s not as it seems!
> 
> -MissHattress


	10. The Truth

 

                                                               ***Ari’s Point Of View***

 

The feeling I have when I ‘wake up’ from the dream with Danny is something I can’t quite describe. I know the mattress that I’m sitting on was comfortable, but I didn’t _feel_ it. I didn’t even feel the clothes I had on me, or the tiles beneath my bare feet.

But what I did know is that I remember.

I honest to god remember everything that led to where I was right now. I don’t know how it happened, nor did I care (I just hope I’m not dead. That would hinder the whole get-out-alive plan) the problem now was trying to figure out how to escape. If I’m going to keep that promise to Danny—and I damn well _will_ —I have to start moving.

Ever since I woke up back here, I couldn’t get that kiss out of my mind. I knew it was in my dreams, but I could still feel my lips tingling and despite the situation, feel myself smiling goofily. Unfortunately I can also feel the burning sensation in my lungs that’s now dulled to a faint throb.

Damn pink happy juice.

I close my eyes, trying to remember what it was I saw for those precious short moments I was conscious.

A lab . . . lots of tubes and wiring . . . I was floating in something with a mask over my mouth and even though my vision was kind of blurry, I could see others in the same tube-like structures but I couldn’t see inside of them. I also saw a face, it was a woman, with blue eyes and dark hair that was loose around her shoulders. She was wearing one of those white lab coats and she looked . . . worried. I think she said something to me, but I couldn’t hear her and then I woke up here. Only this time with all my memories.

Who was that woman? Did she want to help me?

I let out a silent sigh, holding my head in my hands. Even if I did leave here, what about the others? Despite everything, we’ve all become fairly close and I can’t bear not ever seeing them again . . .

I’m pulled out of my thoughts by a shifting movement above me. I turn my head to see Simone’s eyes staring back at me in the dark, her hair illuminated by the sliver of moonlight than shines through the window.

“Penny for your thoughts?” she whispers. I give her a weak grin as I pull my knees up to my chest and she meanders her way beside me.

“I remember, Simone . . .” I say lowly, careful not to wake the others.

“. . . I’m not sure whether to envy you or call you a moron. Every time you got dragged off, it scares the ever living hell out of us, Ari. Why?”

“Because there are people waiting for me. People I care about.”

She gives me a look. “Boyfriend, huh?”

I smile, hiding my face with my knees. “It’s complicated?”

“When is it not?” she laughs lightly. “Do . . . do you think we have people waiting for us too?” she asks, and even though I know she’s trying to hide it, I can tell she’s scared.

“I don’t know Simone, I’m sorry.”

She sighs. “No, it’s fine. Your honesty is something I appreciate from you, Ari.”

“Yeah, well, I wish I had some of your tact.”

“Really? Sometimes I feel like I’m a little too nice . . . I wish I had some of your assertiveness.”

“It’s not as fun as you might think, you’re so mature . . .”

“Are you calling me old?”

“Oh shut up, that’s not what I meant.”

“You know,” a deep voice interrupts our giggling and we look over to Ax’s bed. “Some people would appreciate some peace and quiet when they’re trying to sleep.” He grunts.

“Says the one who snores like a broken down pick-up truck.” Connor mutters.

“You guys were awake?”

“We have been for a while. Damn newbie . . .” Ax says rubbing the back of his neck.

“What he means is, we were worried about you Ari.” Connor says as Ax jumps down from his bunk to sit next to me on the floor.

“Whatever.”

Connor joins him, leaning his head on Ax’s shoulder as Tracey hobbles over next to Simone. He hands a note to me and even though I have to strain my eyes to see it (this kid had better handwriting than me!) in the lack of light I can see that it wrote: “We’re glad you’re safe.” With a little cartoon drawing of us all. I smile, reaching over to ruffle his messy brown hair.

“Thanks Tracey,” he flashes me a tiny smile before we all sit in silence for a moment.

“It feels like something big is about to happen . . .” Connor says wrapping his arms around himself.

“You too, huh?” Simone asks.

“Bet it has to do something with Newbie.” Ax sighs, nudging my leg with his elbow. “I don’t know if anyone else experienced it, but whenever this idiot comes back from being taken away for the umpteenth time I see a bunch of people in a big white house . . . I look a lot like them.”

“You remember your family?” Connor asked incredulously with an excited grin. “That’s great!” I can tell Ax blushed a little at the closeness of their faces and looks away. “I only remember a woman . . . she’s short with long black hair in a braid. I think she’s my mom . . .” he sniffles a bit, rubbing his eyes. “It’s weird how I don’t remember her, but I really, really miss her.”

Tracey tugs at Simone’s sleeve, and she holds the piece of paper up so that we can all see it. It’s a portrait of a man with a thick moustache. His bespectacled eyes are closed in a warm smile and crinkled at the corners. Beside him is a rather pretty woman with her hair tied over her shoulder, but something about her seemed wispy, like she wasn’t really there.

“Is that your dad? He seems like a really nice guy.” She says wrapping him up in a half hug. “I guess that means I should go next then, huh? I only remember a woman with hair like mine and a stern looking face. She’s a little blurry, but I don’t think she’s my mother.”

“Maybe she’s your aunt?” I say as she shrugs.

“Maybe . . . I guess Ari’s remembering is contagious.”

“So then where are the spiders? I’m itching for a fight.” Ax says cracking his knuckles.

“They’re usually here by now . . .” I say keeping an eye on the door. I feel a chill go down my spine then as I suddenly understand what the woman I saw while I was floating in the tube said to me.

“’Hold your breath.’”

“What?”

“Everybody, focus really hard and take in the biggest breath you can.” I say as the ground begins to shake. They all spring to their feet, holding on to our bunk to keep steady.

“O-okay!” Connor shouts as a flashing red light bleeds through our doors. “You guys better be okay after this!” he says taking in the biggest gulp of air he could.

The others follow suit as I nod and just like that with a blinding flash of light, I wake up in the same liquid that I was in before.    

I look around frantically, the mask I had on before detached from me. I bang on the glass, my movement slow and sluggish. My lungs began to burning again as I let out a gasp, closing my mouth again to keep what precious little air I had left. I lift my legs up, the movement sending a tingling sensation down my spine as I kick at the glass.

_C’mon . . . break damn it!_ I plead and miraculously, a crack forms. That was all it needed before the pressure of the liquid begins to make the crack grow and I’m tossed out of it like a rag doll, broken glass and . . . whatever it was I was in coating the cold floor.

I gasp, taking in gulps of air as I attempt to lift myself up from the floor. I fell a few times, my arms feeling like jelly but I eventually get myself to sit. Thankfully I avoided any glass and I take my first look around. I was in a room by myself I notice, as I wipe my eyes clean and shiver.

I try to stand, but a piercing pain from behind my neck brings me back down.

“Ah!” I hiss, reaching a shaky hand to a thin wire that was embedded into the back of my neck. A whimper escapes my lips as I touch it—fuck that _hurt_!

“You might want me to do that . . .” I turn too quickly, making myself dizzy and I fall again, only to be caught by the person.

“Who—” I cough harshly, my throat feeling as if I swallowed sandpaper.

“My name is Willow, Willow Statlender. Here, drink some water.” She says in a delicate voice, a bottle of water in her hands. I look at it before glaring at her. “Right, sorry. You have every reason not to trust me but please . . . I need your help.” She tears the cap off the bottle before taking a swig, the lip not touching her lips as she hands it to me. I know I shouldn’t have taken it, but I grab it from her and down the entire thing. This all seemed strangely familiar.

“Why are you helping me?” I rasp as she looks to the ground, ashamed.

“All of this, everything that this place is doing . . . I want to put a stop to it. Taking children away, experimenting on them like . . . like animals. I’ve seen so many of them die.” she utters lowly, sobbing into her hands.

I sit there awkwardly, not really sure on how to comfort my ‘captor’. She finishes shortly after, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.

“I-I apologize,” she says. “I guess you’re looking for an explanation, right? This facility, you should know it well—at least the part you were familiar with. It’s called Hetera Helix officially, but you might know it by IVY.”

The name clicks in my mind as I remember the visits with my mother and taking her here when she was sick . . . the treatment she got here was top notch.

“Wait . . . so this place is a hospital? What the hell are you doing experimenting on people?!”

She sighs, wringing her hands together. “I assume you’re aware of beings that possess a specific trait called the X-gene, yes?”

“Yeah . . . I see reports in it from J. Jonah Jameson when he isn’t ranting about Spider-Man. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything, actually . . . you see, while the world views them as ‘mutants’ and monsters, the people here at IVY believe they are the next step in human evolution. That’s the reason why they’ve been taking children–the age range that the gene develops is in puberty.

“The spiders that go out and collect them are programmed to target those only with the X-gene using a special analyzing injection that hones in on the targets. We’ve been monitoring kids here in the facility ranging from infancy to early adulthood—”

“You’ve experimented on _babies_?” I say, not even bothering to hide the disgust in my voice.

“I’m not proud of what I’ve done . . . most of us don’t even know the true lengths this place will go. I only scratched the surface, and I nearly gave up until I came across you.”

“What’s so special about me?”

“Originally, when we captured you, you showed no sign of having a trace of the gene and that’s why the injection had such a negative effect on you. The other researchers wanted to . . . cancel your observation until something we never expected to happened, happened.

“Something . . . changed; we thought you didn’t have the gene but you did. It was recessive, almost completely as if was being pushed back by something but before we could find out what, you started resisting. The treatment we put you all in was meant to mold you, make a clean slate and see if we could tweak at the gene’s appearance but years of research had only gotten us so far.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” I place a hand to my temple, feeling dizzy at the info dump. “ _I’m a_ _mutant_?! T-that’ impossible!”

“We thought so too . . . but I’ve personally seen your files, Ari. Believe it or not.”

I take in a deep breath in an effort to calm down but I can, I feel the bubble of panic beginning to erupt in my chest. “So you sick bastards kidnapped people— _kids_ — off the street to turn us into some kind of _soldiers_?!” I exclaim, my hands shaking. “So now you want me to help _you_ pay for your crimes, eh? Think that by releasing me you’ll make up for all the lives you _ruined_?!”

“P-please, calm down Ari—it’s not just me! Some of us a forced to—”

“Like hell I give a shit about that! Do you have any idea of the horrible things that happen out there to mutants?! The things people say about them like they’re some kind of—of—disease?!” I feel a coldness wrap around me but I ignore it and pick up a shard of glass, not caring that it digs in to my palm. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t just kill you right now . . .”

The coldness in my voice makes her visibly shake, her eyes widening as she pushed herself back. “P-please . . . I know what we did was wrong, I know that by just asking you for help is just adding salt to the wound but—!” she got enough nerve back to press her forehead against the wet floor in a bow, her hair getting damp due to the liquid from the tube that was still spilling out.

“I beg of you—do whatever you want to me just please help those children! I’ll take it on ten-fold if I have to!” she cries. “Please, Ari, they have my little girl. They promised they could help her, but they just . . . took her. I haven’t seen her in so long . . .”

I stare down at her, my anger slowly fading as she cries. I look down at the shard in my hand, the stinging sensation making me aware of what I attempted to do.

It made me sick.

I throw the glass across the room, making her flinch and look up at me with curious but frightened eyes.

“After all this is over, you give yourself in to SHIELD. You tell them everything you know about IVY, you tell them of every baby, child and teenager you guys took and if they have families, you bring them back.” She vigorously nods her head, wiping her eyes as she let out a relieved laugh.

“Thank you . . . thank you!”

“Don’t thank me yet; I still don’t know what the hell you did to me, or what kind of mutant I am, but I better look like myself . . . or else. Now get this needle out of me.”

“R-right. It might hurt a little bit but please bear with it,” She says, moving to sit behind me as her cool hands touched my exposed neck. Jeez, did they _have_ to cut my hair? I feel a slight pinch as the needle is being pulled out of me—it must have been four inches!— and then it was out.

“Ow! What the hell was that?!”

“It’s best you didn’t know . . . can you stand?” I wobble onto my feet, teetering a little like a child as I take a careful step forward.

“My legs feel like gelatin . . . how long was I in that thing?”

“A little over a month, I think.”

“A _month_?! No wonder I walk like a two year old!”

 

The dizziness passes after Willow took the needle out of my neck (and I recovered from the shock of being gone for over a month) and gives me a fresh change of clothes since the ones I was currently wearing are dripping wet. They were the same as my last pair, but newer by the looks of it. She then rolls in a gurney with a giant black bag on it.

I look from her to the bag with a flat look. “I’m not going in that.”

“B-But it’s the only way to sneak you out of here without drawing attention to yourself!”

“In a god-damned body bag?!”

“They won’t check it, I promise. I can also take you to your friends—the ones you met in the simulation!”

Simulation? “So they’re okay? Where are they?”

“You were the last one to wake up, they’re already in the safest location in the building.”

“And where would that be?” I ask, her lips forming a thin line before answering me.

“The morgue.”

 

                                                                                 ******  

 

“I see . . . such a shame. Subject 4|214 was a promising specimen.”

I hear a muffled voice say as I glare at the direction of it. I am not a _specimen_!

“Perhaps you could let me have a sample of her DNA? It could pay off for you rather well in the future . . .”

I resist the urge to punch through the bag, keeping my breathing even so I don’t give myself away.

“Ah . . . I’m sorry Doctor Stret, I’ve got orders directly from Professor Dayal to dispose of 4|214’s body immediately—you know how particular she is.”

The old fart (Professor Stret) sighs deeply before responding. “Yes, yes. It’s still such a waste . . . well I’ll leave you to it then.”

“Thank you, good day Professor!” Willow replies as she begins to wheel me away again. I count the paces in my head and wait until twenty to speak up.

“. . . That guy was the sounded like the biggest prick I have ever heard in my entire life.” I say earning a snort from her.

“P-please don’t speak so loudly, Ari.” She whispers over her giggles. I smile smugly.

“He totally is, isn’t he?”

“Shh—we’re here!” I hear a sliding of a door, other voices murmuring over one another until we arrive. She exchanges a few words with someone and then the zipper to my bag is undone. I squint at the lights, closing my eyes as sit up.

“Ow . . . jeez this gurney is uncomfortable.” I say cracking my lower back.

“Ari!” a chorus of voices greet me as I’m nearly knocked off the gurney. I focus my vision to see . . . Simone! And Connor! Next to them was Tracey, looking up at me with those big green eyes of his and Ax standing there next to him with a huge grin on his face.

“’Morning sleeping beauty!” the red head says with a mock salute.

I stare wide eye at the group, blinking away the burning sensation in my eyes as I hug the two back. “I’m so glad you guys are okay!” I say, struggling since my legs were still trapped inside the body bag. That was when I notice other kids I don’t recognize scattered around the room in their own groups.

“These are the other kids that resisted the drug,” Simone explains as she and Connor let me go. “Turns out we weren’t the only ones.”

“We’ve been doing this for a long time now,” another feminine voice says as an African American woman steps up to me. Her hair is cut super short—almost shaven as her dark brown eyes look at me coolly. “It’s nice to meet you officially, Miss Kateri. My name is Nakida Lee, and welcome.”

“Professor Lee is the one who started this program,” Willow pipes up. “She was the one who recruited me and the others!”

“I see . . . so you’re the one who started this whole rescue mission, eh?” I say as she crosses her arms behind her back.

“I can tell you still don’t trust us, and I can understand that, but you must know that we all have our reasons for wanting to shut down IVY. You are a very special girl, Ari.”

“So I’ve heard.” I mutter, shooting a look at Willow. “She didn’t really explain, though.”

“I asked her to let me tell you; tell you all as to why you are now back in the real world. You see, the tanks you all were placed in connected you to one of IVY’s most innovated and brilliant machines they have come to develop—the Core. It was used to sync you all up in a sort of simulation they ran to keep you under control.”

“A simulation?” Ax asks. “Why the hell for?”

“Please do not interrupt me Alexander,” she says sharply. He visibly bristled at his full name—looks like someone dislikes their name just as much as I do. “As I was saying, with you all being connected, each of you had some kind of influence on each other. When Ari here arrived, I noticed a sort of anomaly in the system. It was slow at first, but the drugs effect on you began to diminish and more and more of you began to become ‘aware’. This came in form of memories the drug suppressed, like your friends and family.

“Usually this happens on its own as the drug’s effect diminishes as you become accustomed to the drug and usually we up the administration but when we realized it was coming from you, Ari, they merely upped your dosage. Almost to the point it was lethal but you survived, which I am thankful for and you all should be as well. Her resistance began to seep into the other simulations and that’s why you were going to be neutralized along with you all.”

“So . . . Ari saved us?” a girl with short brown hair says glancing over at me.

“In a way, she merely gave you a push in the right direction so to speak.” Professor Lee answers with a nod of her head. “This is the first time since the beginning of this program that something like this has happened, frankly I’m surprised they wanted to get rid of you.”

“Gee, thanks.” I utter with a roll of my eyes. “So, what then? What happens now?”

“That’s where it gets difficult. We started with this originally taking one or two of the children from the simulation to make sure we don’t get caught, but with this sudden and rapid appearance of you who can resist the simulations’ . . . we can finally move forward to take down IVY and those who support them.”       

“So you want soldiers, then.” Connor comments as he shuffles a little on his feet.

“For the lack of a better word, yes. It won’t just be for your freedom, but for the freedom of every single life that this institute has destroyed.”

“It seems kind of unfair for us to help you guys, ain’t it?” Ax glares, a deep scowl set on his lips. “You expect us to go along with your little break-out plan just like that?”

Huh. Déjà vu.

“Do we really have much of a choice? If the other Professors and I are found out about our intentions, they would kill all of us without a second thought. Both of our choices are rather limited, wouldn’t you agree?”

The silence that blankets the room is an answer enough for her as the dark skinned woman turned to me. “I believe I have something that belongs to you.” She says as she reaches into her coat pocket. She tosses me my SHIELD issued watch, which surprises me but trying to turn it on, the screen unfortunately stays black.

“It hasn’t tuned on since you arrived, I imagined you would know what to do with it.”

“Thanks. I already told Willow about my conditions for helping you, no negotiations.” I say as I turn to my group, thankful to see their faces in the _real_ world. “Out of one frying pan and into another, eh?”

“It all seems so surreal . . .” Simone says quietly, rubbing her arm. “Did . . . did they tell you about . . .”

“The X-gene? Yeah. I have no idea what my . . . ‘thing’ is though. Do you?”

She nods, her hair bouncing around her neck. “A lot of us have . . . the Docs say that it’s caused by stress. Heh, as if it’s some kind of sickness.”

“It won’t be easy . . . but I know we’ll pull through. We made it this far, right?” I say.

“Yeah! Have you noticed anything different with you?”

“Not that I can see, at least. Then again, I’m a ‘special case’ apparently.”

“Don’t get cocky now, Newbie.” Ax smirks. “Since you were the last one here, we’ve gotten a bit of a head start on our powers!”  
                 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:  
> Well, there you have it! It took a bit of research (and a ton of bombarding questions to my friend) to work with this plot. I originally intended for Ari to remain human, but those other plot lines would have been a bit more . . . simpler. Since this is my first time writing something like this, the challenge was a bit more appealing to me as well! ^^  
> I’m a bit worried that I might get a little carried away, but I’ll do my best not to make anything too unbelievable! If any of you lovelies have any suggestions for Simone and the others powers (minus Ari) please feel free to let me know!  
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter even though there wasn’t a lot of fluff compared to the last chapter but I’ll try to sneak in a few more moments between Danny and Ari in future chapters!  
> As always thank you guys so much for reading! See you in the next chapter!
> 
> -MissHattress


	11. The Change

 

                                                             ****Ava’s Point Of View****

 

One of the very few things we’ve been trained at SHIELD to do is to be silent and stealthy. Sometimes our missions acquire a . . . lighter touch. Having the powers of a tiger helps with that, which I’m grateful for. Unfortunately, some of my other teammates can’t really grasp that concept, which is why Iron Fist and I were the ones to infiltrate IVY while the other three began the second part of the operation. Ari’s watch was finally giving out a faint signal we managed to trace here.

It was hard on everyone since she disappeared and it wasn’t hard to see that it affected our resident Kung-Fu master. We could all tell Ari and he had something between them—only neither of the two ever made a move. I wasn’t sure if after this anything was going to stay the same, but knowing Ari even for a little bit, made me sure that she was going to pull through.

“Any luck on the signal location?” he asks me as I look down at the scanner Maggie gave me. The red dot on the screen was supposed to be Ari but it was extremely faint . . .

“It’s not as strong as we thought it was going to be,” I say with a slight sigh. “She also appears to be . . . moving?” he smiles slightly, his jawline relaxing at the news.

“That is a good sign then.”

“It is but . . . something seems off. Why aren’t there any people here? I know this is a blind spot but this is ridiculous. It’s almost _too_ easy.”

“I agree, I’m not sure if we should take this as a blessing or a disaster waiting to happen.” He stops suddenly, holding a hand up to gesture me to stop. “Tiger, wait . . . do you hear that?”

I strain my ears, not picking anything up until I hear a strange sound. It sounded like . . . the wind? “Yeah but . . . there aren’t any windows in this part of the facility let alone a hole. A sudden wind came rushing down the hall we were facing then, almost as if something exploded without a sound. “What the—?!”

“Well, well, well . . . What do we have here?” a deep voice chuckled as a cloud of smoke licked at the floors. Iron Fist and I immediately got into a fighting position, bracing ourselves as heavy footsteps made their way towards us.

“Who are you?!” I call out readying my claws as a boy a little older than us, emerges from the smoke. His hair is a deep red, almost like blood and his white smile contrasted against his tanned skin. Pale blue eyes looked back at us with an almost manic glint in them as he flicks a cigarette pinched between his fingers to tap the ash away.

“That’s a good question kitty-cat! It’s been too long since I used my real name so just call me by what the coats do. Smoker’s the name, and even though I know you’re here to save your little friend, I’m afraid I’m going to have to stop ya here!” he says, his Irish accent giving his threat a slight lilt.

Oh he did not just call me ‘Kitty-Cat’. “Hate to break it to _you_ that we’re not letting you stop us!” I growl, that smug grin on his face already grinding my nerves.

“Ooh, such spirit! That Tiger side of you must be itching to fight!”

“How did you . . .”

“Tiger suit, amulet shaped like a tiger? Not too hard to connect the dots, love. Although Green man here is another story.” He says eying Iron Fist.

“Let us pass, Smoker. We do not wish to fight, if not necessary.” Iron Fist says calmly, which reminded me on why we were here.

_Damn it, I can’t let this guy rile me up. I have to keep in control . . ._

“Oh! That’s new . . . most people can’t _stand_ me. Isn’t that a breath of fresh air!” he laughs again, the smoke that billows around his long coat winding closer to him. “Sorry laddie, but I can’t do that. You see, I have orders to keep ya busy for a while . . . just until the stage is properly set!”

“Set for what?” I ask, feeling a sinking sensation in my gut.

“Now, now,” Smoker says, his voice suddenly losing its playfulness. “Where would the fun be in that if I just told ya kiddies?”

The smoke that is at his feet suddenly shoots out at us and we have to jump apart to avoid the drill-like attack he sent at us. I back flip away, landing in a low crouch as I scan the Field for Iron Fist. I breathe out a sigh of relief, seeing that he was alright I turn my attention to Smoker.

“Why are you working for this place? You have unique gifts that can do so much more, Smoker.” Iron Fist calls out as the red haired boy scoffed.

“’Unique’, eh? Hate to break it to you lad, but being a Mutant isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Plus, the money’s good. Have me a nice little saving’s account for when I retire!” he draws in the smoke again before unleashing it in a giant wave that knocked us both back and hard into the wall. I sit up with a groan, the smoke moving around us and making me cough.

I glare up at Smoker as he stands in front of me, I can’t make out the expression he has on his face but that might have been due to my vision doubling as the smoke wraps around my neck.

“Don’t worry Kitty-Cat, you and your friend here will only sleep for a little while. You guys were fun! I hope we meet again!” he grins as I pass out.

 

                                                               ****Ari’s Point Of View****

 

I feel a sudden chill down my spine and I can’t help but look back at the darkness of the hallway we were in. The power suddenly went out a few minutes ago which prompted Professor Lee and the other scientists to move forward with their plans.

Just how many stages did these guys have?

“Hmm? Everything okay, Ari?” Connor asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Y . . . Yeah. I just got a bad feeling about something.”

“Maybe it’s because this place is going to shit?” Ax mutters as we walk through the darkness. The only light being the flashlights the adults have and a few glow sticks we were given.

I can’t help but snort a bit at his bluntness as Simone sighs, shaking her head a bit as Tracey looks on straight ahead.

“Honestly, Ax . . .”

“What? I’m only speaking my mind!”

“Sometimes you might want to put a mute button on them.” Connor snickers as the red head shoots him a look.

“So where exactly are we going?” I ask, Willow looking back at me with a slight smile.

“To the other end of the facility. According to Professor Lee, there’s been a breech in the building.”

“A breech? You mean someone else is already breaking into this place?” Ax questions with an excited glint in his eyes.

“We’re not sure yet, communications are down now so we’re taking advantage of the confusion.”

A spark of hope ignites in my chest as I grip my communicator that was in my pocket. _Is it the others? Are they already here . . . ?_

The group that is ahead of us stopped suddenly, causing some of us that were in the back to try to look over the others heads. It’s quiet for a moment before someone screams and a burst of smoke flies past us, making us cough and hit the ground.

“What now?!” Ax calls out as the smoke begins to settle. I can hear sounds of a fight going on as something blasts through the wall beside us.

“Could use a little help Web-Head!” they exclaim as they disappear into the darkness.

“S-Sam?” I cough, my voice lost in the commotion. I gape at the hole, not noticing the others get up and move on without me.

“Ari come on!” I can hear Simone say to me, but her voice is far off. I look to the hole Sam went through, looking back to our group before making up my mind and jumping through. “ARI!”

_I’m sorry Simone . . . everyone . . . The sooner I can get to the others, the sooner I can get us out of here with people I can trust!_

I hold up the glow stick, squinting into the dark to find some sign of Peter and the others. I can’t hear anything, but I can smell the crisp outside air. Should I head outside? No, there might be guards out there . . . so where should I go?

“Gah!” I yell as I trip, knocking the glow stick from my hands. “Ow . . .” I push myself up, rubbing my hand at the rubble that scratched my palm. Shit, the cut I had earlier! I braced myself for the pain, but it never arrives. I climb over the rubble of concrete that Sam left behind, making my way to my glow stick to hold it up to my hands and what I see made me nearly drop it again in shock.

The cut is completely gone . . . !

The bandage that Willow gave me to cover up the cut I got from the glass—gone. Without so much as a scar!

“W-what the hell?” I take in a deep breath to calm myself down, trying to make my hands stop shaking.

_Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out. Don’t. Freak. Out._

“Just keep going and find the others . . . _then_ I can freak the hell out.” I mutter as I begin to wander again.

This place was so creepy with the power out . . . I mean I’ve never seen it in the light, but I’ve played enough horror games to know that hospitals, houses, or any kind of large building without power equaled a bad time.

After meandering in the dark for god knows how long and making about a dozen turns, I still don’t come across any of the others!

I peer around the corner of another room, finding yet again whole pile of nothing. I slide down against the wall to sit down and take a breather, rubbing my forehead and pushing my bangs out of the way. I reach into my pocket, pulling out my communicator too look at the dead screen and sigh.

Why was this happening? Now that I actually got a moment to reflect on everything that’s happened, I nearly laugh at the outrageousness of it all.

In one little moment my entire life was just flipped upside down . . .

I don’t have anything against mutants, I always felt like they had just as much right to live as we did but in a world where people were still making judgments against race, gender and orientation . . . being a mutant on top of it all . . . I wasn’t going to lie to myself and say I wasn’t scared . . .

“Well, well . . . whatcha doin’ out here girlie?” I whip my head up from resting them on my knees to look up into a pair of pale blue eyes. My eyes widen as I jump away, my shoeless feet nearly tripping on the floor as the man before me blinks in confusion.

“S-stay away!” I stutter, knocking into a destroyed wall and making a small pile of what felt like books crash on to my head. “Ow! Fucking hell, what is with this place and hurting me?!” I accidentally rant, smacking a hand over my mouth. I look back up at the man, who by the looks of it was trying not to laugh but ended up failing as he let out a loud guffaw.

“Ooh, that was a good laugh!” he says once he gets his bearings, wiping a tear away from his eye. “I’ll have to thank you for that one!”

“Glad to know me hitting myself gave you a good laugh.” I mutter with a glare. Though I knew nothing about this guy, one thing I did know that he was starting to irritate me.

“Oh come on now, don’t be so sensitive! I bump me head all the time ‘round here, too!” he grins, heading over to me and reaching out a hand. I stare at it with a frown before looking back up at him. “Oh come on, I’m just helpin’ you up, least I could do, eh?”

Despite my better judgment (I mean, I did just hit my head pretty hard) I take it and with a strong pull, he helps me up, patting me on the shoulder. I scrunch up my nose at the smell of cigarette smoke he gives off, coughing a little just by standing near him.

“There ya go! So what’s a funny girl like you doin’ wandering ‘round here?”

“Why should I answer _you_?”

“Well I could be helpin’ ya for starters.”

“ _Or_ you could not,” I snap back. “I have no idea who you are and I’m just trying to get out, okay? So just forget you saw me and I’ll be on my way.” I say making my way down the route I was originally going down.

“Then, I guess walking off the side of a cliff is the way to go eh?” I stop mid-step, peering out the side of the next hole I was going to go through to look down. I nudge a large rock with my foot ahead of me, listening for the sound of it rolling away only to hear a sickening plop as it sinks in to the waters below and I turn away to walk back.

I think I see another way to go a few ways back when it suddenly dawns on me that I can just use my Eagle Vision.

I slap my forehead with my palm, inwardly berating myself as I concentrate and in a flash a path is illuminated before me in bright gold. I didn’t know what, but something felt different about it.

“So where are ya headed now?”

I jump a little at the sound of the weird man’s voice who is casually strutting beside me.

“Why are you following me?!” I snap, not looking at him in hopes he would just wander away.

“Got nothin’ better to do for now, and you seem like fun!”

I click my tongue, stomping on ahead. “Leave me alone creeper!”

“Aw come on, don’t be such a sour puss!” he laughs, his boots surprisingly quiet against the rubble.

“Listen, I don’t care what you do with your time, but I have to—” I look back at him, my Eagle Vision flashing before me again and I can finally see why something felt off.

He was glowing a bright, bloody red.

“Something wrong girlie?” he smiles, but it’s dark and dangerous. He knows. “Real shame, it is. I was starting to have fun with ya!” he says, scratching the back of his head. “Tell ya what, I’ll give you a ten minute head start before I come after ya, fair?”

I don’t wait for him to say anything else before I book it, following the path that’s lit up before me.

“Smart move girlie! Didn’t even wait for me to say ‘go’! We’re gonna have a fun ol’ time you and me!” he cackles as his voice drifts away. I make a hard right as I throw the glow stick in the opposite direction, hearing a pop as the plastic brakes. Hopefully that could keep him off my trail, but I doubted it.

I can feel my heart pumping in my chest and my blood rushing in my ears as I run. What the hell was he planning on doing once he ‘caught’ me? Was he working with IVY? That would seem like the most likely conclusion. I hop over an overturned table, my muscles burning since I hadn’t used the in over a month but I still have some muscle memory.

The path seemed to end in this room and I slow to a stop, gasping for breath. I wipe my forehead, trying to find a place to hide since this was a dead end. Why would it lead me here?

The room is large and circular, with a glass wall to my right and the rest of it covered in a chain link pattern and metal plated. The ceiling is high and I can’t even fathom where it ends. I use my Eagle Vision again to see where I could go, but all it did was lead me to the center of the room. I try to see if I had missed anything but I feel myself stiffen as the scent of cigarette smoke drifts through the air.

“I gotta say, that little ability if yers is a fine handy thing to have, Ari.” I hear his voice echo around me. I brace myself. Lights began to flick on from the ceilings, illuminating the area even more and nearly blinding me as I hold my hands over my eyes. “I’m impressed though, ya managed to almost get away. Not many people can say that, I’ll tell ya!”

When my eyes finally adjusted to the light, I focus my glare on the man before me, his red coat billowing before him as he seems to materialize before me in a cloud of smoke.

“Since you have the pleasure of knowing my name, why not return the favor?” I scowl as that manic grin spread across his face again.

“There’s nothin’ I love more than having a little fire in people I fight! We’re gonna be good friends, you an me! Call me Smoker, love!” he holds his hands out as the smoke begins to spread across the room, covering my ankles. “Ya know what they say about smoke, right? Where there’s smoke, there’s FIRE!” I see something spark in the smoke and I jump almost a second too late before the floor bursts into flames.

I cringe against the heat as I latch on to the chains against the wall to escape his attack, but that only made him more excited as he runs in to a sprint towards me, his fist covered in flames as he readies a punch, I push myself away, the impact creating a large dent in the walls. I land in a roll, crouching as I run opposite his direction.

“C’mon now Ari, I already gave ya time to run! Time to _fight_!” Something grabs my ankle, and look down in time to see a tendril of smoke wrap around it before I hit the ground. I stretch my hand out to grab what I was running for, grabbing it before I’m sent flying into the wall.

I let out a cry of pain as I feel the wind being knocked out of me, the crunching of metal against my back being the only sound I can hear as I taste my own blood on my lips. I crumple to the ground, trying to sit up as his footsteps near me.

“I know ya have more of a fight in ya than that! Where’s that spirit I saw back there, eh? I can’t go full out if ya don’t even try!” I count the steps he takes towards me, and when he’s close enough, I lunge the metal pipe I grabbed towards his shoulder, making him jump back in surprise. “Ohh, nice one Ari! But that wasn’t a shot to kill! Gonna have to go for the throat!” he shouts as he closes the distance between us with a single step, disappearing and re-appearing in the smoke as he kicks me in the stomach, launching me upwards as he jumps to meet me mid-air.

“Kinda like this!” he says grabbing me by the throat, flipping us around so that he was above me as he slams me into the ground. I can’t even scream as his hand begins to tighten around my neck, my vision turning spotty as he stares down at me with cold blue eyes. “Ya gonna have to take this fight more seriously, Ari. If ya don’t, ya die.”

“S . . . screw . . . y-you.” I wheeze as he chuckles lowly, leaning in real close.

“Do ya really think insulting me will save ya? But now that I have your attention, let’s have a little quiz, shall we? Question One: How hard do ya think I threw you into that wall?” he waits for me to respond, knowing full well that I can’t. “Answer: Enough to make sure a normal person wouldn’t ever be able to walk again. So what does that say about ya?

“Question Two: How is it that you’re still conscious, even after I made sure to aim for the vitals? I must say, I never expected ya to have a healing factor! I wonder to what extent it can go . . .” he raises his free hand as the tips of his pointer and middle finger start to glow as he nears it to my shoulder. He loosens his grip on my throat enough for me scream as his fingers digs into my arm.

I flail against him, screaming as the scent of my flesh burning wafts into my nostrils and he lets out a child-like giggle.

The pain is unbearable, like a red hot poker digging into my skin and I can barely register the sound of anything else other than my screaming and pleading for him to stop. He digs his fingers deeper, twisting them deeper in to my shoulder, tears falling from my eyes. No matter how much I kicked at scratched, he wouldn’t move.

If I didn’t do something now, he wasn’t going to stop.

He would keep digging and burning over and over again until he was satisfied.

I grip the pipe that was still in my hand, trying to fight through the pain as I raise it to strike him over the temple with it, effectively knocking him off of me. I roll away from him, putting enough distance as I can between us as I nurse my injured shoulder. I can feel the blood trickling down my arm as I blink through my tears.

“What a hit!” Smoker shouts as he staggers on to his feet. “Oh I’m gonna feel that one tomorrow!” he begins to walk to me, shaking his head and staring at me with those cold eyes of his as his blood dripped down his face.

W-what the hell was with this guy? Why didn’t he stay down?!

A small whimper escapes me as I backed away, like a wounded puppy.

What was I going to do?!

The others were nowhere to be seen and I’m scared . . . !

He’s too strong . . .

I do the only thing I can think of doing: I close my eyes and brace myself.

 

                                                             ***Danny’s Point Of View***

The sound of screaming wakes me from my unconsciousness, it sounds muffled for a few seconds before my ears adjusted to the ringing noise and I snap my head up. The room spins for a moment as I get my bearings, and I push my body up, shaking the dizziness away with a groan.

The person screaming—it’s Ari!

I stumble forward, my hands being held back by a strong glass-like wall. I bang against it, calling out to her as I see a man knock her onto the ground.

“Get away from her!” I yell, punching at the walls with everything I have, only for my efforts to yield a few measly scratches. I let out another cry at I spin and kick at it, but it still won’t break!

I grip my hands at my sides, watching helplessly as the man that caught us in the beginning of all this continued to torture her while I just stand here . . .

Why can’t I save her when she needed me? She was _right_ _there_ and I could not do anything! I hear another groan come from behind me as I turn to see my comrade awaken from her own slumber.

“Tiger?” I did not even realize she was here with me . . . “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah. I think so . . . what . . . what the hell does that guy think he’s doing to Ari?!” she exclaims, her eyes widening as she readies her claws.

“Trust me, I have already tried to break down this wall.” I say lowly, the anger I feel towards Smoker burning through me.

“So? Then let’s keep trying! You always say there’s a weak spot, right?” she says before she begins to slash away at the two-way glass. “Where’s that Zen attitude of yours?”

I look to Ari and Smoker once more, she had managed to get away as she hit him with an iron pipe she has with her and limps away. That only seemed to make him more eager to get to her as he continues to pursue her, the fear in her eyes evident.

_I_ _have_ to _calm_ _myself . . . there will be nothing to gain from giving in to anger._ I mentally chant, grateful for her words as I begin to focus but before I can do anything, a cold chill sweeps through me, prompting me to put a hand on Tiger’s shoulder to stop her.

“Wait . . . something isn’t right.” I say, making her look back to me then to Ari and Smoker in confusion before she shudders.

“What . . . why is it so cold?”

I look to Ari and Smoker, seeing something flicker beneath her as her body shakes. I can’t see her face, but her arms are wrapped around herself, like she was keeping something in.

“I said stay away from me!” she shouts over to him, her head bowed. It doesn’t sound like a plead, or even a bluff but . . . warning?

Smoker gives her a steady gaze before he smirks and chuckled. “Looks like you’re nearly ready to go all out . . . c’mon Ari show me a good time!” he says before he rushes at her, the smoke that blanketed the floor shooting upwards and honing in in on her. We both call out to her, not knowing what else we can do since we’re trapped and watch as the entire room is covered in smoke.

“Ari!”

We both search the floors, looking for any sign of her. My heart beats erratically against my chest as I look for her; something about that feeling from earlier felt familiar, but what?

“There!” White Tiger calls out, pointing to crouched form.

How did she dodge it?

“Hah? We’ll that’s a surprise . . .” the red haired man hums, resting a hand on his hip.

As the smoke clears, we finally can see what it was that protected Ari. Wispy tendrils of darkness erupted from behind her, four of them shifting and moving protectively around her as she looks on, her eyes wide and horrified. I can see her mouth something to herself, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. Her head snaps up as Smoker laughs again, running a hand through his hair.

“What the hell is this then? Kinda kinky for a nice girl like ya!” he says before the ‘tails’ snapped at him, as if they have a mind of their own. His smile falls for a moment before he holds his hand up, a stream of fire balls erupting from his palm, aiming right at Ari!

She lets out a scream, holding her hands up before the tails enclosed around her, creating a sort of makeshift shield as Smoker rushes her. The tails react quickly, one of them blocking his kick at another wrapped around his ankle to fling him across the room.

“W-whoa . . !” Whiter Tiger gasps, watching as he’s sent flying. “What . . . did they do to her?”

_. . . I don’t think I’m the same anymore_

“She told me about this . . . about how she was afraid she wasn’t the same anymore.” I say lowly as Smoker peels himself from the wall, staggering to his feet.

“Of course she’s the same! Ari is—” before she can finish her sentence, we both turn our attention to Ari as she clutches her head in pain with her good arm. Shaking it as if she was fighting something.

“That was one helluva toss, love.” Smoker coughs out, as his arm that is bent at an abnormal angle begins to snap back in to place. “What say we both go all out now, eh? For our audience!”

Ari looks up, her eyes flickering in to something I couldn’t make out.

“What are you talking about?” she says with a glare, her voice hoarse.

“Why, yer friends of course! Couldn’t have them missin’ out on this!” this seemed to stir up something in Ari as she lets out a guttural shout, using two of the tails to spring forward to close the space between her and him. “What did you do to them?!” she cries out as Smoker flips out of the way, avoiding the jabs from the shadow-like tails,

“Now why would I go on and tell ya that? Ya seem to be all fired up again!” he smirks, dodging her attacks with ease now. “Hard to keep track of four of ‘em, let’s see if they like a little fire!” he exclaims and grabs one of the tails and ignites. Ari hisses, face contorting in pain and recoiling back as she spins and grabs his arm with another tail, lifting him up into the air before slamming him down to the ground with a shake.

She doesn’t stop there as she repeats the motion, grabbing his other arm and leg as she starts to bash him into the ground, over and over again, his blood painting the white tiled floor.

“Where are they?! Why are you attacking me?!” she shouts, her voice rising with every crunch of his bones. “You have that healing thing too, right? Why don’t we see how far _yours_ goes?!” she says, a grin forming on her lips as she lifts him up again, the tail he burned coming back to wrap around his only free limb and to our horror, she begins to pull at them. Hard.

“Oh God—Ari Stop!” White Tiger calls out, banging her fists on the glass. I know she can’t hear us despite our pleas, so I have to think—we have to get her attention before she does something she would regret!

I look around the room we were in, trying to find something— _anything_ to make her stop, but nothing seemed like it would work. I flinch at the sound of Smoker letting out a pained cry as his bones pop; no matter what he did, he doesn’t deserve this kind of torture!

I ready my fist again, trying to focus on the weakest point of the glass wall—I don’t care how long it would take, I will find it!

While I’m trying to find the spot, I can hear Ari taunting him, a cruel edge in her voice I never knew she was capable of producing, and it pains my heart but I have to preserver . . . for her sake.

Simultaneously, I find the weakest point at the same time Ari lets out a shout and lashes out a tail behind her. It seems to have struck something as blood splatters onto the floors. I can hear another shout from a voice I don’t recognize as something crashes into the wall and Ari turns to face it, the whites in her eyes completely darkened and her warm brown eyes shining with a malicious intent.

The thing that she hit flickers for a moment before a girl a little older than us materializes, holding on to her side as crimson liquid spills out from the wound in her side. She’s wearing the same thing as Ari is, with blonde hair curled tightly around her shoulders.

Despite the pain she must be in, the girl speaks softly to her in an English accent. “Ari . . . you have to stop, _please_ . . .”

Ari hesitates for a second before turning to Smoker who is at this point, unconscious.

“No . . . _he_ wanted _me_ to fight him! _He_ was trying to kill _me_! Why isn’t if fair for me to do this to him?!”

The girl sits up, looking up at Ari with sad eyes. “Because this isn’t _you_. Even when the spiders took you away, you never fought back . . . you’re a sweet girl who would never hurt anyone like this. Even when you didn’t know who you were, I could tell; we all could tell! So please, just stop!” she cries. Her words seemed to get through to something in Ari, as she gasps and looks down at her shaking hands. She noticed now how bloody the front side of her clothing had become.

“Oh my God . . . what . . . what did I almost _do_?!” she sputters as the blonde girl tries to stand, only to let out a cry. “Simone!” Ari shouts, stumbling over to her and letting go of Smoker to aide her. “Oh God, I’m so sorry Simone! I-I didn’t know it was you!”

“Heh, there’s my girl. It’ll be okay, you’re back now . . .” she let out another groan as she clutches her side.

“No, it’s not! You’re losing too much blood—we have to get you out of here!”

Not waiting for another word, I punch through the glass wall, this time connecting through. Ari turns to look at us, her eyes widening in shock as I run straight to her, White Tiger splitting up from me as she goes towards Smoker.

“D . . . Danny?” she whispers as I make no hesitation to wrap my arms around her as soon as I was in distance of her. “Danny, no! I’m covered in—”

“I don’t care.” I say, the feel of her against me—the _real_ her— for the first time in weeks winning over anything else.

“You must be the lucky guy.” The girl, Simone, says looking up at us with labored breathing.

“Do not worry, we’re here to help.” I say as I let go of Ari, smears of blood staining my suit.

“How can we move Simone? I—the wound it’s bleeding too much!” Simone gently takes Ari’s hand in hers, the other applying pressure to her abdomen.

“It’ll be okay, besides the upside of chameleon skin, my healing isn’t too shabby either.” She grins, despite the situation.

“Simone . . .”

I’m glad that Ari has such a strong friend in this place, she’s brave to face her the way she was before and willingly put herself in harm’s way to save Ari . . .

The two of them are amazing . . .

“I finally got a signal! The others are heading over now, and they’re coming with medics to help your friend.” White Tiger says, jogging over to us.

“What about him?” Ari questions lowly, her eyes looking over to Smoker.

“He’s not dead, but we’re going to do the best we can.” She answers, placing a hand on her shoulder. Ari looks down to the floor, ashamed, the tails shrinking to wrap around her waist in a thin belt of shadows.

“I almost . . . killed him.” She said, her voice shaking.

“But you didn’t.” I reply as she shakes her head.

“I had the intention to. That isn’t what heroes _do_ . . . !”

We all look to her, unsure of what to say.

“Why don’t we put this behind us until we’re sure we’re safe, huh?” White Tiger suggests, kneeling beside her. “I’m glad you’re okay, Ari.” Ari gives her a small smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes as they flicker back to normal.

“I don’t think ‘okay’ is the right way to put it, but I’m alive, right?”

I can tell Simone wanted to say something, but before she can, I see a flash of orange and red pass right by me to hit Ari right through her abdomen. Time seemed to slow as she looks down at the blooming of red that began to appear on her shirt and Tiger curses and rushes over to Smoker, claws out as I catch Ari before she falls on to the ground.

No. No, no, no, no, _NO_! Not again . . . not again!

“A-Ari!” Simone calls out, tying her best to get over to us as I angle Ari’s face to look at me.

“Ari, Ari stay with me, _please_ , stay with me!” I can feel my calm exterior begin to crack as the light in her eyes begin to fade. She tries mouthing something I can’t understand but with every passing second, her blood is spilling on to my lap and I feel panicked, even more intense than I’ve ever felt before.

I can hear Tiger shouting something as the SHIELD personnel thunder in but my focus is on Ari, trying to keep her conscious enough to get her help and I watch helplessly as a tanned woman with her hair in a bun underneath a cap gently eases me away from her, saying she needed to get her on a gurney. I nod numbly as they strap her in, her eyes sliding shut as they slip an oxygen mask over her face.

__

Please . . . please don't let me lose her. 

_Please_

  
     

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note:  
> Intense chapter is intense! I’m not used to writing so many battle scenes . . .  
> If any of you are familiar with the particular Anime that the fight scene between Ari and Smoker is inspired by, let us cry in the corner together. :’D  
> Don’t worry though, Ari can still eat normal food.  
> I think this is definitely up there in my favorite chapters and I hope it lives up to your expectations! I certainly had fun editing it, despite not so happy things happening to our characters . . . heh. It was kind of hard seeing Ari doing what she was doing in my mind, but that will also be explained . . . later.  
> Smoker is a fun character to write too, but it’s hard getting his accent on to paper . . . err . . . screen? He has an Irish accent and it’s really interesting hearing his voice in my mind whenever I’m writing out his dialogue.  
> This will also mark the last chapter beginning with ‘The’ if anyone had noticed. I felt like it flowed a lot better with the arc. At least a lot better than the other ideas I had.  
> Alas, the drama will not end here though. There’ll be a dip for a bit but we need to keep this train moving! I’m also having a lot of fun writing these out!  
> Thank you all for reading and have an awesome day/night/afternoon!
> 
> -MissHattress


	12. Reunions

                                                    

 

I can feel my body floating again. Not like I was in the tube I was placed in at the IVY laboratories, but more like really warm water. I can hear a bunch of different voices all yelling something to one another and between flashes of bright white light, I can make out a lot of different faces. Some I’ve never seen before, but I can remember seeing Fury and Principle Coulson.

I’ve never seen them look so freaked out . . .

What happened to me? The last thing I remember was trying to help Simone and then . . . wait. Smoker! He hit me with something and then there was an intense pain in my abdomen and then I was in Danny’s arms again.

I was getting his suit stained again . . .

I’m okay though, right? He looked so scared. I’ve never seen him like that before, it was like he just shutdown.

_Then you have to go back to him._

I turn my head to the direction of the voice, the sound of it familiar and comforting.

“Mom?” I say, my voice echoing and unsure as I’m suddenly sitting in a field of green. Wildflowers spread out before me as far as the eye can see. In front of me, the image of a woman with short, thick hair and kind eyes looks down at me with a smile, her body clothed in a pretty white sundress.

“Hey there, my little Aria.” I stand up, slowly walking over to her.

_No_ _way_ , _how_ _can_ _she_ _be_ . . . ? “Mom . . . is,” I swallow the lump in my throat. “. . . Is it really you?” I ask, tears already threatening to spill and I can feel my lip quiver.

“As real as I can be, sweetie.” She says, holding out her arms and without any hesitation I wrap my own around her, crying into her shoulder like I was a little kid.

“Mom!” I cry out. “It’s-It’s really you . . . I’ve missed you so much!” I blubber as she gently guides us to a sitting position.

“I know . . . I’m so sorry honey. I’m sorry I left you all alone out there.” she replies, hugging me tight and letting out a few sniffles of her own. She even smelled the same, like that flowery lotion she would always keep in her dresser to keep me out of it. “You’ve been through so much, and I just up and die!”

“It isn’t your fault! How could it?”

“I could have held on a little tighter, so I could make it through! Then I could be worrying about you down there instead!”

I lift my head from her shoulder, wiping my eyes as I give her a look. “Are we seriously talking about this right now? I haven’t seen you in almost three years! Isn’t this the part where you’re supposed to be all wise and helpful?!”

“I can’t help it, you know how I get when people start crying!”

“You’re the one who told me being sad won’t do anyone any good!”

“These are different circumstances!” we both then enter a glaring contest. As far back as I can remember, we would always get in to these arguments whenever something didn’t go the way the other wanted. It was so infuriating! Suddenly we begin to laugh, crying at the same time.

“This isn’t the reunion I had in mind, mom.” I say as she wipes my eyes. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

“I know . . . I was planning on going all _Lion_ _King_ on you. I remember how much you love that movie, I can practically rehash the entire thing.”

“‘ _Remember who you are._ ’” I quote in a deeper voice before we burst into giggles. _God_ _I_ _miss_ _this_ . . . I mentally sigh, my eyes getting all teary again. “So where are we?”

“Hmm, that’s kind of hard to explain . . . You took a serious hit Aria, and if your friend didn’t call those agents, I’m not sure how long you would have lasted.”

“So I’m _dead_?! W-what do I do?! I can’t be dead I still have too much to do!”

“Calm down, calm down . . . you aren’t dead. At least not yet. It isn’t going to get any easier for you out there, I won’t lie to you. It’s going to be hard, and you’re going to start having to make a lot of tough decisions but I know you’ll be able to pull through. You _are_ my daughter after all.” She laughs lightly, tucking a lock of my (so, so) short hair and making me smile.

“What happens if I stay?” her eyes grow sad then, which surprises me.

“You’ll move on.” She answers quietly.

“. . . Will I be able to stay with you?”

“Of course, honey. But is that really what you want?”

The thought is tempting . . . if I choose to kick the bucket I get to stay with my mom, my best friend and the only person that _really_ understood me.

Then I think of all the people waiting for me: Peter, Mary Jane, Harry . . . Madam Paola and the people at Aigile and Ava, Luke, Sam and . . . Danny. His smiling face flashes in my mind, the feel of his hand in mine and the little gestures we would exchange since I joined SHEILD making my heart race a little faster. Then I remember the little deal we had back in the dream world and I grin.

“I have to go back, right? There’s still a lot I have to do; including getting your husband to apologize to you.” I say, scratching my cheek.

She laughs a little, shaking her head. “Don’t be too hard on him now and be safe, okay? I’ll always be with you, even if you don’t see me . . . I love you, my little Aria.” She says, embracing me one last time before the scenery begins to wash away.

 

The sound of beeping meets my ears as I slowly crack open my eyes, meeting with pitch blackness as I try to look around the room. The air smells sterile and like disinfectant. Despite the fuzziness in my mind, I can tell I’m in a hospital . . . but which one? I try to shift myself in to a sitting position, but I let out a tiny groan as a pain in my midsection makes me rethink the decision.

Stupid Smoker and his stupid fireball.

A little more carefully this time I sit up, mindful of the stitches and try to search for some kind of light. My hand ghosts over what feels like a lamp and I feel for the switch, the light clicking on with a blinding flash and I flinch away since I’m staring right at the bulb.

When I can finally see again, I look around the well-furnished area with a couch and a table on the opposite side of me, a window opposite that wall showing a view of the city from above. The floors and parts of the walls were a polished light wood accented with light blue wallpaper decorated with little looping vines. The one thing that stuck out is the SHIELD symbol that hangs above the door to my left.

I let out a sigh, feeling whatever it was the doctors here were pumping into my veins in a wave of warmth and weightlessness, the pain I felt in my abdomen dissolving away. I lift up the collar of the hospital gown I’m wearing to look at the damage, surprised to see the scar wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

It’s just near my navel, the skin raised and slightly pink and about the size of my fist. I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t have been healed this far in, but I don’t know how long I’ve been here. Smoker had mentioned something about a healing-whatever, and the hole in my shoulder is merely a brown scar. I look around my waist to see if those . . . shadowy things were still there. No sign of them, but I don’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Everything seemed like dream . . . or a nightmare.

I lay back down with a sigh, staring up at the spinning ceiling fan and letting the morphine make my body relax.

I wonder what my mom meant by everything getting difficult for me, but I couldn’t just up and kick the bucket like that. Was she even real? She _felt_ real enough to me . . .

I slip me eyes close again, thinking about all the things that’s happened to me in the past month and before I know it I’m asleep.

 

One trippy dream featuring a talking Zebra and a self-conscious drinking bottle from Six-Flags later, I wake up feeling a lot better than before. I also notice I have a lot more visitors, all spread around the room. Ava and Peter are asleep on the couch (comfortably close I might add) with Luke leaning against the arm rest, also asleep. Sam is snoring loudly leaning over the table from his seat in the chair and even MJ and Harry are here too, sitting on rather comfy looking chairs near the windows, which I now realize are no longer looking over the Hudson.

I look down to the only blond in our group who is gently holding my hand. I smile to myself, his breathing slow and steady as his head rests near my lap. I feel so lucky to have such good friends . . .

I gently place my hand on Danny’s arm, a bit surprised to see him awaken so quickly and his green eyes instantly meet mine.

“H-hey there, Mr. Green,” I say, my voice coming out a bit raspy from being unused for so long. I can tell he wants to say something, but his lips just form empty words until he settles for pressing my hand to them. I know I feel my cheeks flush at the gesture, my stomach doing flips as he smiles up at me.

“Welcome back.” He finally says, leaning up to place a kiss on my forehead this time which I was thankful for because right now I feel really, _really_ gross.

“Looks like the whole gang is here, how long have you guys been sticking around?” I ask, sitting up with a bit more ease.

“A couple of hours, you’ve been out cold for about three days,” he replies, his hand never leaving mine. “It’s Friday now, so we got permission to stay here overnight.”

“Where is ‘here’? I woke up once and we were in the air.”

He quirks a brow at me. “You did? Why didn’t you call anyone?”

“Because I fell asleep like five minutes later now answer the question.” I say poking his shoulder.

He laughs quietly, shaking his head as his thumb massages my palm. He has a habit of doing that, I note. “Director Fury moved you into a secure private hospital room equipped with SHIELD security so your friends could visit you. You may not realize it, but you’ve been a pretty popular patient.” He says as I look around to see the newly added gifts and get well soon baskets.

I reach for a blue teddy bear that’s sitting on the table beside him, poking it in the nose and blinking when it lets out a pre-recorded message.

“ _Hey Ari! This is Marie,_ ”

“ _And John,_ ”

“ _Don’t forget your favorite usher Kenya!_ ”

“ _We miss you sweetie, and we hope you get better!_ ” Marie says through the bear’s tiny speaker as the others at the cirque give me get well soon wishes. I smile down at it, blinking away a few tears at the sweet sentiment.

“Aw damn, I’m getting all misty-eyed.” I say, wiping my eye.

“Shut that damn thing off . . .” I hear Sam mutter, turning away as Ava and Peter shift. They both sleepily look over at us before Peter goes wide eyed and shoots up.

“Ari! Guys, Ari’s awake!” he shouts, rushing over to me and nearly tripping over his own feet. The others quickly get up as well, all circling me around the bed with goofy grins. “How—when—are you okay?” Peter asks, not really sure what to do with himself.

“I am, thank you guys for being here when I woke up. I really appreciate it.”

“What do you mean? If it wasn’t for school, we would be here every day!” Harry says, looking a little disheveled. “So what exactly happened? All we know is that you disappeared and no one would tell us a thing!”

“Harry, is now really the best time?” MJ says, giving him a look.

“What? She’s been missing for almost two months!”

“It’s okay, MJ, you guys deserve to know but I think I’ll let the officials explain it. If you see a guy in a black coat and an eye patch, I think he’ll be able to tell you.” I say smoothly, not liking the aspect of lying to them. How Pete did it to us so much must have been a pain.

“All that matters now is that you’re okay, and _here_.” She says. The doors then open behind everyone with a silent ‘whoosh’ as the familiar face of Director Fury flanked by two medical personnel walk in.

“Good, you’re all awake. Nice to see you up and at ‘em, Kateri.” He nods in his usual tone, but something felt a little softer when his eye meets mine. Maybe I’m still on the pain killers? “I know the reunion is a long time coming, but these ladies have to do a few examinations just to see if you’re really okay.”

“Right _now_?” Sam whines with a frown.

“The sooner they can do their jobs, the sooner Kateri can get released. In the meantime, we can give you guys a little explanation on what happened.” He states, turning on his heel and not waiting for anyone to follow. The gang give me reluctant looks before filing out, but Danny doesn’t let go of my hand.

“Would it be alright if I stayed?” he asks as the others disappear through the doors, and I could faintly hear Sam protesting before Luke shoves him out the door with a tired sigh.

“It would be up to Miss Kateri,” the dark haired woman says as her colleague goes around us to jot down a few things on her clip board. They are nearly identical so I assume they’re twins, with black hair tied back in to buns and brown eyes. Asian, I think and they’re both tall and really pretty.

“As long as I don’t have to undress.” I shrug as they chuckle at my humor.

“Don’t worry, if it was anything like that we would have insisted for your privacy. Besides, how can we say no when he’s been visiting you every day?” she reveals with a smile as I look over to Danny, who looked away with a slight flush to his cheeks. “My name is Danielle, by the way, Danielle Stevens and over there is my sister Rachelle Stevens. We have to admit, you surviving is pretty miraculous.”

“Amazing even,” Rachelle says in a small voice as Danielle proceeded to take my blood pressure. Danny stands a few ways away as to not interrupt her.

“Your wounds seem to be healing at an accelerated rate thanks to your . . . situation. I’m sorry you had to go through something like that.”

“. . . It’s fine, really. So you guys know about . . . it?”

“The X-Gene.” Rachelle says, her half-mast eyes looking at me for a moment before she begins to carefully remove the needles in my wrists. I expect it to hurt, but I feel nothing.

“Don’t worry, we’ve dealt with a lot of cases with mutants. In fact, we’ve dedicated our lives to it.”

“That’s nice to hear; mutants aren’t exactly well-liked by everyone . . .” I say looking down at my lap as Danielle shoots me an apologetic smile before removing the band she put around my arm.

“It won’t be easy, but since you work for SHIELD, you’ll be using your powers to help people when they need it and that’s all that matters. Think of all the _good_ you’ll be doing. Would you mind leaning forward?” I did so and she put on the stethoscope she has hanging around her neck and moves it along my back. “Breathe in and out, slowly.”

“What did Fury tell you about what happened?” I ask in between breaths.

“Just enough so that we know how to help you, medically speaking of course. The drug they administered to you and the other children they held captive is one we’ve never seen before let alone know how they came up with it.”

“It worked as some kind of suppressant, right?” Danny speaks up. “When I visited you in the Dream World, you mentioned something about it. It was wreaking havoc on your memories.”

I shudder at the thought, recalling the pain that stuff left me in afterwards. “Y-yeah . . .”

“That’s what we’ve been worried about. According to some of the lab results we’ve found the dosage that was given to you wasn’t tested as thoroughly as the type they’ve been using on the others so we’re worried about any residual effects on you. So far you seem okay and ready to go, but we’d still like for you to come in at least a few times a month to make sure it’s out of your system.”

“I’m guessing that isn’t optional, right?”

“Nope.” Rachelle replies with a small smile, looking finished with whatever she was writing down then hands something to Danielle who nods and finished up.

“I’ll ask Director Fury for what days would be best for your check-ups. For now, you’ll be free to go by tomorrow so you’ll get to enjoy your Saturday. We’ll give you two some privacy now.” She says as the two exit the room.

I let out a sigh, rotating my wrists and kicking the sheets off me.

“Are you sure you can get up?” Danny asks me, pushing himself off the wall and readying himself to help me.

“I think so. _Please_ tell me there’s a shower or something in here, I seriously need it and I’d rather not risk falling on to my face if there isn’t one.”

He gives me a toothy grin. “There is, Miss Private Suite.” He says, holding out a hand.

I roll my eyes, failing to fight the urge to smile as he leads me (quite wobbly on my end) to the bathroom. He tells me he’d wait outside the door, and to call him if I need something but I assure him I would be fine.

Unless I fall in to the tub that is.

Fortunately I manage to get through my shower relatively unscathed (except for the three seconds of scalding hot water I wasn’t prepared for) and step out feeling like a new woman.

I guess in a way I kind of was.

Using the sink’s counter to keep my balance a bit, I open up the medicine cabinet and there is a set of toothbrushes wrapped in plastic and a cup with toothpaste placed within it. Sending a silent thanks to whoever furnished the room, I turn on the faucet and brush my teeth, the minty taste of the paste washing my mouth. After that was finished, I look at myself in the mirror, cringing at the faint bruises I still had from my fight with Smoker.

I nearly let out a loud shout as I see my reflection change and staring back at me was an image of me, but my eyes were dark, the sclera completely blacked out as my shoulder began to bleed. My reflection’s lips curl into a snarl as four wispy tails of shadow began to encircle her. I snap the cabinet open, feeling like I just ran a marathon and cutting away the image. I turn away, the warmth of the shower draining away and leaving me cold.

What the hell was _that_? Was that one of the side effects of the drug?

I swipe my hand through my short hair, missing the length and deciding to get changed into a pair of familiar set of pajama shorts and t-shirt and I know it had to be MJ’s doing. After finding some undergarments sandwiched in between the two sets of clothing.

_Note to self, give MJ the biggest hug and treat her to the best damn coffee you can find_.

Five minutes later I’m changed, bringing the towel with me to rub on my hair and step back in to the bedroom.

Danny’s eyes met mine with a smile, the familiar green lighting up. “Feeling better?”

I nod, returning the gesture as I sit beside him on the bed, staring out at the city. “It’s amazing how much a simple shower can make you feel brand new.”

“’Sometimes it is the simplest of things that become the most fulfilling.’” He states and I can’t help but let out a content sigh.

“Man I’ve missed those!” I grin, falling back into the sheets. “By the way, don’t ever stop-being away for so long has made me appreciate them a lot more.” I say poking his bicep. He laughs, taking my hand and laying down next to me as he intertwine my fingers with his own.

“I’ve missed _you_.” He murmurs, giving me that same stare he did when he visited me in my dream.

Speaking of which. “I seem to have promised to give you something in that dream world.”

“Hmm . . . did you, now?” I quirk a brow, feeling a little daring (maybe it was the haircut?) as I sit up and straddle him, his arms wrapping around my waist to secure me there.

“Let’s see . . . I believe it was . . . a kiss?” he grins again, pulling me down so that our faces were inches apart.

“Remind me?” he whispers lowly as I smile and close the distance between us without a second thought. The sensation I feel now that he’s _really_ here, is nothing like in our shared dream. I let out a sigh as I wind my hands through his hair, the scent of his soap invading my senses as his hand trails lazily up my back.

I can feel my heart beating like mad as he pushes us up, breaking for air for a moment before his velvety lips attack mine again. I have to wonder what he used on them, but my thoughts are snatched away again when his tongue tentatively brushed against my lower lip and I part my lips with a low moan.

My face grows hot as he deepens the kiss, knowing for sure now he can feel the banging in my chest as our kiss begins to slow down and we separate with a low popping sound. I stare down at him, my eyes open only halfway as he looked up at me with a tender gleam in his eyes.

His hand moves to my cheek, closing the space between us with one more kiss before burying his face in my neck. I giggle a little as his hair tickles my collarbone and I trail my fingers through it again, enjoying the feel of it. He lets out a pleasant hum, placing a few more kisses near my collar bone.

“How long do you think we have before the others come in and ruin the moment?” I ask after a few moments of peaceful silence.

“That isn’t a very nice thing to say,” he murmurs, feeling him grin against my skin as he places another kiss there.

“Would _you_ want them to come in right now? You just got me to yourself after all.” I sang. “Who knows when the last time will be~”

“. . . Don’t tempt me.” he chuckles, tossing us both on to the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors notes:
> 
> I do love writing those tender moments between Ari and Danny, even if it feels a little awkward for me~
> 
> This chapter wasn’t too bad to edit, luckily (may I never write another twenty-four page chapter again!) and was pretty calm compared to some of the upcoming ones. 
> 
> I do hope it lasts . . .
> 
> I know a few people have been asking for more romance between Ari and Danny but I don’t want to make it feel forced or rushed, that wouldn’t feel right for either party eh? I assure you though, they will get more moments now since our girl is back! Though the Aigile sections are going to be cut down which saddens me a little since I love writing them out.
> 
> Oh well . . . everything in due time.
> 
> As for the scene with Fran and Ari, that was completely improvised but I liked writing it despite not knowing myself if that was a dream or Ari did almost actually die . . .
> 
> I also tried to some up with different names for Danielle, but every time I did it just didn’t seem to work so sorry for the confusion!
> 
> If you have any questions about the plot so far, or would like to make some suggestions please feel free to send me a message! I love hearing from you guys!
> 
> Thank you all for reading, it means a lot!
> 
> Have a wonderful day!
> 
> PS. Also, I’m going to be going to Florida this week so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to update, but hopefully I will!
> 
> -MissHattress


	13. Rehabilitation

I take in a deep breath as I concentrate on the easiest routine I can think of, bouncing on the trampoline as I flip once, twice, three times—I wince before I can complete the fourth turn, my legs locking up as I curl up to land on my back.

“You’re getting better, that’s great!” Doctor Danielle says as her sister, Rachelle, comes over to help me up. I breathe in the much needed oxygen, taking her hand gratefully as I sit on the edge of the trampoline. I let out a frustrated sigh as I run a hand through my sweaty locks, resting my arms on my knees as I bow my head.

“We’ve been at this for two weeks now, Doc.” I say catching my breath. “Why is this still happening?”

She gives me a small smile, handing me a bottle of water which I take with a small thanks. “The drug is still working through your system. Since it was developed for mutants, it isn’t like any normal drug so it will take some time.” She explains.

“I get that . . . but while I’m here, the others are out there saving the day!” I exclaim, gripping the bottle as she places a hand on my shoulder.

“We know . . . you want to be out there with them and this is starting to frustrate you, but you have to be patient, Ari. What you need now is time.”

Even though I know she’s right, a part of me was still upset that this was all I could do. I wasn’t allowed to go on missions or perform in Aigile. The only thing I could do was go to school (which was awkward as hell since I was missing for almost two months) do homework and go straight back to SHIELD headquarters—which was rebuilt because it was destroyed thanks to Green Goblin—to repeat the whole process. It’s starting to grate at me that I was so . . . limited. I’m used to moving around and being active but I can’t do that when my body won’t listen to me.

“. . . So how are Simone and the others?” I ask changing the subject.

“We’ve managed to find their families if that’s what you’re asking,” Danielle replies. “Fortunately, they’ve all handled the situation rather well, although Simone’s grandmother was a bit . . . shaky on the subject. We’ve been working with the Professors that turned themselves in after the infiltration of the facility.”

_Simone’s grandma?_ “That’s good to hear . . . I guess. Doesn’t help that they’ve ruined lives.”

Professor Lee and the others are trying to fix their mistakes . . . isn’t that enough?” she smiles as the doors behind her slide open, revealing two familiar faces.

“Good afternoon Doctors.” Agent Benjamin greets curtly, walking in alongside Agent Ana. The two didn’t seem to change other than Agent Ana’s hair style. It’s in a short bob now that complimented her facial structure and maybe now it was a few shades lighter? Agent Benjamin looks the same, his hair slicked back to the side in a classic kind of style. A few greys peppered his dark hair but it makes him looked distinguished.

“Good afternoon, Agents.” Doctor Rachelle replies with a nod.  

“I guess our session is over for today then.” I say hopping off the trampoline with a little wobble. My vision blurs a little and I shake the dizziness away. I can see the adults look at me but I wave my hand before they can say anything. “I’m fine, see you two next week then?”

“Five O’clock on the dot.” Doctor Danielle grins. She’s always so smiley, it’s kinda nice.

“It’s good to see you again, Ari.” Agent Ana says with a small smile, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “You have no idea how worried Benjamin has been about you.” The man coughs, probably giving her a pointed look through his shades. Ooh, first name bases?

“It’s good to have you back.” He says as he leads me through the doors.

“How has your treatment been going?” Agent Ana asks, her arm hooked around mine. Probably to make sure I don’t keel over.

“Better. I still can’t go back to Aigile, or out with the others, but apparently whatever it was that those crazy scientists gave me, it’s working itself out of my system.” I reply as she frowns, hearing the grumpiness in my voice.

“Think positively, Ari. If anyone can get through this, it’s you.”

_Or so I keep hearing_. “What’s on the schedule now?”

“Director Fury would like to speak with you, after that you’re free to go to your room.” Agent Benjamin states. “I believe your friends should be arrive soon after that.”

“I still think me staying here is a bit much . . . I miss my room back at my apartment.” I pout, missing the freedom of walking around in my bra. I even miss the crappy wallpaper.

“You know it’s for your own protection,” Agent Ana says patting my shoulder. “We have to keep you safe after all this craziness. We don’t know if whoever IVY was working for is after you or the other children that they’ve captured.”

“At least _they_ get to go home. Can’t SHIELD supe-up my apartment?” I say crossing my arms childishly.

“The foundation was way too old. Director Fury already told you that.” Agent Benjamin says as I sigh.

“I know, I know . . .” before I can further state my claim that I would be completely fine on my own, a red flashing light begins to flare making the two Agents immediately draw their weapons. “W-what’s going on?!”

Agent Ana put two fingers to her earpiece, listening intently before nodding and muttering a low “Understood.” Before turning to me. “It looks like we have an unwanted visitor in the ship. Orders are to get you into the training room.”

“But why—”

“We have to move—now.” Agent Benjamin orders as Agent Ana takes my hand and we sprint through the halls. There are other Agents running past us all in a tizzy—and I don’t use that word often. Since I’m still new around the newly made Tri-Carrier, I let Agent Ana guide me through the halls but something’s . . . odd. Like something inside of me was reacting to something inside the ship. I shake off the feeling as the wide space of the training room comes into view and the doors slide open.

It seems like we were the first to arrive but I can feel something was off.

“Orders are to stay here until the others arrive.” Agent Ana explains, bringing my attention back to her.

“H-huh? Oh, you mean Spider-Man and the gang?”

“. . . Yeah. Are you alright, Ari? You look a little pale.”

“Yeah, yeah! I’m fine! Just feeling a little queasy is all I guess.” I laugh, but I can see that doesn’t shake her worry. She’s about to say something else, but her mouth seems to freeze just as she’s about to speak. “Agent Ana?” I say, quirking a brow as I turn to her partner to see him stuck mid-step. What the hell? I take a step back, the room gaining a sudden chill to it as I jump back on instinct.

Sharp, dark blades that look like feathers land on the place I was just standing on, just inches from Agent Ana. Before I can call out to her my body moves on its own as I dodge to the side to evade two more attacks. Is this the thing that broke in to the Tri-Carrier?!

“Whatever you are, let them go!” I shout, my voice echoing as I look around to see if I can spot them. I activate my Eagle Vision when I see no signs of anything. It had changed since I had gotten back, the background was no longer a dark grey. In fact it looks pretty normal besides the key items having a faint glow to them. I have to admit, it made ‘seeing’ a lot easier. My eyes land on a shadow hanging high in the ceiling, looking straight down at me in a familiar set of robes.

_An Assassin? Are they working for IVY too?_

When our eyes connect, they spring down. Moving at an impossibly fast speed and I barely register the tail that sprouts from my lower back move up to defend me. I grit my teeth at the pressure the hooded man is putting on me and manage to push him off, hissing in pain at whatever they used to hit me. It managed to partly slice through my tail but it quickly shapes itself back to normal.

“Ari!” I look to the side to see Spider-Man and the others burst through the doors, looking back and forth between me and the man before moving into fighting positions. “So this is the pesky fly that snuck in here!”

“Doesn’t seem so tough to me.” Power-Man smirks. I could feel Ava and Danny’s eyes on me and I look away, almost in shame. I still don’t feel like myself after they saw me do that to Smoker.

“Who the heck are you anyway? And why are you attacking the Tri-Carrier?” Spider-Man demands, pointing a gloved finger to the man.

The man in question slowly stands, his stature more relaxed as he flips his beaked hood back. My eyes widen and something snaps in me, just like with the fight with Smoker and three more tails join the lone one I have. I grip my hands as I began to shake, my body ready to spring and I send a fierce glare to the last person I ever thought I would see.

My Father.

“ _How_ . . .” I grind out, the amount of distain in my voice surprising the others. “You have some nerve showing you face here.”

“. . . That’s a nasty look.” He says, his eyes the same hue as mine but calmer. “How are you, Aria?”

“You have no right to call me that!” I spit out, the tails bristling as they curl around me. I grit my teeth so hard I can taste blood, as I try to control the bubbling anger that wanted no more than to explode out of me. “What the _hell_ do you think you’re doing here?” I demand.

“I wanted to see how my daug—”

“Don’t you _DARE_ call me that!” I practically screech as I spring forward, the speed at which I move at making me dizzy as a tail reaches out to grab him.

“You’re letting your temper get the best of you.” He states calmly, dodging to the side as the same kind of wispy darkness bursts from his back. I bring my arms up to block the tiny projectiles that manage to break through the shield my tails make. Paying no mind to the stinging wounds on my body, I jump forward again, managing to land a spinning kick on him. I take advantage of his wobbling stance and wrap a tail around his abdomen, doing a half turn to toss him in to the wall with momentum. He merely cushions his collision with the wing-like shadows that wrap around him like a shell.

A low growl escapes my lips as he lands on his feet, almost completely unscathed. I was about to rush him once more, but he shoots something from his wings that pins me to the walls, my head hitting the metal walls with a harsh thud.

“I just want to talk, Aria. I know I haven’t been the best father figure, but please . . . just hear me out?” he says, hands up and ready just in case I break free.

I struggle against his feathers, most of them were pinning me by my shirt and pants, but from the warm liquid that drips from my left shoulder and leg some managed to hit. “As if I want to hear anything from you!” I shout. “Get these things off of me!”  

“Ari—Ari _stop_!” White Tiger says as she rushes over to me but I barely glance at her. “You’re going to hurt yourself!”

“Wait, who the heck is this guy?” I hear Nova ask as Peter takes the liberty to tell him.

“From what I can remember . . . that’s Ari’s dad.”

“WHAT?!” everyone exclaims.

“It’s good to see you again, Peter. You’ve grown well.” Kele says with a nod of his head. Peter doesn’t seem surprised in the slightest as he slides his mask off, face solemn.

“With all due respect sir, what is it exactly that you want?” he asks. I keep my glare on him as White Tiger tries to calm me down but it wasn’t until the familiar green suit of Iron Fist steps in front of me that my eyes flicker to his for a second as Peter speaks to _him_.

“Don’t try to change my mind.” I mutter, my arms still shaking. Iron Fist just smiles gently as his hand reaches up to cup my cheek.

“You know what it is I’ll say, Ari.” He says. “At least, I hope.”

I want to lean away from his touch, but I can’t make myself do it and I simply bow my head. “How can anyone expect me to listen to him when he _abandoned_ us?! Why does he show up _now_ after everything that’s happened?!” I can feel frustrated tears prick at my eyes, speaking loud enough so that he can hear me.

“Anger and resentment are poison to the soul, Ari. ‘Forgive not because they deserve forgiveness but because you deserve peace.’”

Despite the urge to keep glaring at the man who dares to call himself my father, I eventually tear my gaze away from him and lower my head feeling drained and achy as my tails vanish. Whatever it is that he had holding me up disappears as well, my feet hitting the floors as I keep my gaze downwards.

A few droplets of blood splatter on the ground and I can feel everyone’s gaze on me but I say nothing as I turn to walk away, the alarms long gone.

“Aria?”

I freeze at the sound of my name in his voice. “You may want to talk to me, but only when _I_ say so.” I say, turning my head to half look at him. “You _will_ give me at least that much.” Then I walk away.

 

                                                                             *****

 

I burry my head in my pillow, my face turned towards the walls as I try to glare a hole in to it. About an hour had passed since Kele had snuck in to the ship and I take that time to calm myself down and change into a pair of jean shorts and a navy blue T-shirt. After all these years, why did he decide to come back _now_? I always thought I would see him on my _own_ terms, when _I_ would find him . . . not the other way around.

I let out a long sigh, hugging my pillow as I try to get all my thoughts back in to some kind of order when there’s a knock at my door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, can I come in?” Peter’s muffled voice calls out from the other side of the doors. I sit up, swinging my feet over the bed as I walk over to press the button that slid the doors open. “Hey.”

I smile tiredly as he steps inside. “Hey.”

“Okay, so I know talking out your dad is a touchy subject . . . but I haven’t seen you sulk so much since that time you couldn’t go to the school field trip to the Aquarium back in sixth grade. Talk to me, Ari.” He says taking the chair that was sitting near the computer desk and flipping it around to sit in it.

I rub my arm, sitting down on my bed legs crossed as I swipe a hand through my short hair. “I’m just . . . confused. A part of me is still so angry at him for leaving my mom and me without so much as a goodbye and I never want to forgive him and . . . another part of me wants to just run up to him and cry, like I was a little girl again and just ask him why he left us. What was so important that he had to leave?” I rub my tired eyes, emotionally and physically tired.

Peter sighs, rubbing his chin before he speaks. “Well, if I were you I would be in the same position . . .”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming on.”

“But,” he smirks. “I think you’re lucky. Now before you go all dark-mode on me, hear me out. I know that after losing your mom, you felt alone; trust me I know, but there could have been a hundred different things that could have happened to your dad . . . but he’s here. Would you feel just as upset if you found out along the way that he died?”

“I never even thought about that . . . considering. I must seem like such an ass to you Pete, I’m so sorry . . .”

“Nah, you have nothing to be sorry about, but we’re all pretty worried. You’re damn scary when you’re angry, is your arm okay?”

“Upside of the healing factor or whatever it is they called it. I’m fine but I’m starting to get a little sacred of myself to be honest.” He gives me a worried look, leaning in to listen closer. “Ever since you guys pulled me out of that mad house, I felt like there’s this . . . power inside me.”

“You mean those freaky tail things you grow? No offense.”

“None taken,” I chuckle. “But yeah, every time I use them, I feel something dark trying to take me over. It scares me, Peter. The first time I used it against Smoker, you saw how that left him—if it wasn’t for Simone, I don’t know if I could have stopped.”

“Maybe that’s what your dad is here to talk about?” he muses as I look up to him, quirking a brow. “You may not have noticed it, but he and you have a similar . . . talent. Those feather things looked a lot like your tails. Didn’t you notice?”

I shake my head. “No not really, was too busy flying in to a fit of rage remember?”

“How could I forget?” He grins, standing to place a hand on my shoulder. “We’re here for you Ari, so talk to us instead of bearing it all on your own, okay?”

I smile at his words, smacking his hand away when he begins to ruffle my hair and effectively messing up my do. “Hey, quit it! Do you have any idea how hard is it to work with this hair cut?”

“I think it suits you, gives you a real edgy look!” I stick my tongue out at him as another knock comes from the door. After exchanging a look with Pete, I open the door and see Danny and the others standing there.

“Guys! What’s up?” I say as they walk in.

“We just wanted to make sure you’re alright,” Ava says, studying my face. “But I guess we got beaten to the punch.”

“Yeah, are you done moping yet?” Sam asks earning a look from Luke.

“Your concern is touching Sam, really.” I scoff with a half-smile as he grins. “I’m feeling a little better, yeah.”

“That’s good because Fury wants to see you.” Luke states. “He’s been talking to your dad since you cooped yourself in here.”

“I figured as much . . . I guess I can’t put if off for any longer, huh?”

“If you need us to be there, we’ll be there.” Danny says gently taking my hand. I give him a faint smile, taking in a deep breath.

“Thanks guys, if you don’t mind that is . . .”

“Are you kidding? What do you think friends are for?” Luke grins.

 

The walk to Fury’s office is filled with talk about school and what I’ve missed when we went our separate ways after school. The conversations is mostly between the others, though so I was only half listening. Thoughts on what I would say to Kele and what he would tell me whirling through my mind.

_How would I even handle this? I haven’t seen him since I was four . . . but I have to at least listen without blowing up at him. For mom’s sake . . ._ A light squeeze on my hand brings me back, and I look up to see Danny’s green eyes looking down at me. We’re a little bit behind the group now, and the others are too busy trying to stop an argument between Peter and Sam to notice us much. That or they were giving us a rare moment alone.

“You’ll be fine, Ari. Have a little faith in yourself.” He says quietly, almost as if he’s reading my mind. Or it could be the frown on my face. Either or.

“It’s kind of hard to when everything I’ve done so far isn’t . . . me.”

“We change every day with the choices we make, good or bad, and that is what shapes up into the people we become. You’ve had a very stressful experience Ari, but you’re pulling through. No one is expecting you to make an instant recovery.”

“But being a part of SHIELD means I have to be ready for anything, and being out of commission is starting to get to me, Danny!” I confess, my grip tightening around the warmth of his hand. “I want to be out there helping people— _anything_ to keep me away from my thoughts.”

“Ari . . . you mean the things that happened to you under the simulations? You’re starting to remember them?” he asks, a hint of dread in his voice as I nod.

“They aren’t exactly pleasant . . . everything they did was to crush whatever remnants of my life they could find. I almost lost them if it wasn’t for you.”

“I just wish I could have found you sooner . . . I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, I’m just glad you did. Who knows where I’d be if you didn’t . . .” I shiver, not even thinking of the possibilities. If they had succeeded, then I _really_ wouldn’t be me.

“Speaking of which, with your Doctor’s permission would you mind if we visit a good friend of mine? He is the one who helped me find you.”

“Really?” I perk up. “Of course! I’ll sneak out if I have to!”

He chuckles a little, leaning down to give me a peck on the cheek and I blush. “Let’s not resort to that, hmm? Pushing yourself is the last thing we want you to do; or should we remind you of a certain gym class period?”

“It was only once . . .” I mutter.

“Not according to the Nurse.”

“Hey love birds, if you’ll look away from each other for a sec you’ll notice we’re here!” Sam says with a teasing grin. I try to snap him over the head but Danny holds me back with his arms snaked around my waist, standing between us as Ava knocks on the door. It slides open in a silent welcome, the briefing room looking a little like what I remembered it being like the first time I was here with the addition of a few new floating screens here and there.

“Good to see you finally made it.” Fury’s voice calls out from the front of the table. Diagonally sitting across from his is Kele, whose eyes instantly find mine before flickering to Danny’s hand holding my own. “I see the whole team decided to tag along, how nice.” He smirks before gesturing for us to have a seat.

“I figured whatever Kele had to say to me, he can say it to all of us.”

“. . . It’s your decision, Aria.” He answers quietly, arms crossed.

_That_ was unexpected. Well, I didn’t know _what_ I was expecting exactly . . . I didn’t really know him all that well.

“So what is it exactly you want to say?” I ask leaning back in my seat, bouncing my leg to keep me from pacing around the room.

Kele and Fury exchange a look before the former speaks up. “From what I can tell, you’ve already figured out you’re not exactly a normal teenaged girl Aria. Fran and I . . . we tried to protect you from this but I guess there’s only so much we can do.”

“W-what exactly do you mean, Mr. Kateri?” Peter questions, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice. “Is Ari in danger?”

“Not exactly, Peter. I know by now that you know of my ties with The Order, but that’s for another time. Right now I have to tell you of that power you’ve acquired after being captured by IVY.”

“So you know about it then, huh?” I say, my voice low. “So where were you then?”

“I did my part, even if you didn’t realize it.”

“Hmm . . . you mean it was you who cleared out the blind spot we snuck in to then?” Ava points out. “Remember when I mentioned something was off? At first I thought it was Smoker’s doing, but when I started to think about it, it didn’t add up.”

“You have a good head on your shoulders, Ava.” Kele says earning a surprised look from the others.

“Great, _another_ super spy . . .” Sam mutters, not bothering with his helmet any more as he shakes out his hair. “Seriously, is there _anyone_ who doesn’t know who we are?”

“It comes with the turf, Sam.” Kele smirks.

“Kele was the one who contacted me about IVY’s dead spot. We hit a huge snag in the investigation and he supplied us with the schematics of the facility.” Fury adds, folding his hands in front of him but looking a little miffed. Guess he didn’t like being out-spied.

“So what does that have to do with what’s happening to me now?”            

Kele lets out a tired sigh, swiping a hand through his thick hair before looking at me with almost sad eyes. “It’s a mutation that runs in our blood. More specifically the Kateri blood-line. Our ancestors have had this power passed down through the generations; and in the beginning, thought it to be a blessing from the gods themselves.” He explains taking out a rather ragged leather bound book with two circles inscribed on to it.

One is golden and completely filled in while the one next to it is silver and merely an outline. A line connects the two together and I have a strange feeling I had seen this book before.

“We call ourselves the Shadow Tamers.” he continues. “For obvious reasons, and this book has the story every single one before us. I was hoping this day wouldn’t come for you, Aria but it’s my duty to pass it on to you now.”

He passes the book to me, sliding it across the table. I just stare at it and my eyebrows knit together.

“That still doesn’t explain anything, like where you’ve _been_ for most of my life.”

“I was hoping to get to that later . . . I know I owe you, but right now you need to know about your history, Aria. This power . . . _our_ power is tied deeply with our emotions; more specifically our negative ones. You had a fifty-fifty shot of developing the mutation, and my being around would have only triggered the change sooner. We wanted you to have a normal life. But if you don’t learn how to control it, it _will_ consume you.” He says the last part with an edge in his voice as he leans forward.

“Consume me . . . ?” is that what I’ve been feeling for the past few weeks? That creeping sensation in the back of my mind?

“Your reaction to me was proof enough how out of control you are, if you don’t learn how to wield it you can hurt yourself or even worse your friends.” Something in his voice tells me he knew from past experiences, but I don’t ask him anything further about it as I look down at the book. I stretch my fingers out to touch the cover, the leather cool and bumpy. I feel a sudden jolt of power jump at me through my fingertips and I pull my hand back, eyes wide as I feel something cool wrap around my waist.

I look down to see (a much less threatening) version of the tail that appeared earlier today, it puffs up at the tips like a fox’s and despite my discomfort with it, it seems almost . . . friendly. “What . . . the hell?” I breathe as I hear Sam snicker.

“Aw, I think it likes you!” he says as I turn my head to give him a small glare. The tail seems to react to this and snaps forward towards him as he lets out a rather girly shriek and falls back in his chair.

“Sorry I can’t say the same for you Sammy.” I grin as the tail returns to me, swishing back and forth. “I actually might get used to this!”

“Ha-ha, very funny—why is it that every time I do something I get hurt when it’s around you?” he frowns as he gets up, looking rather miffed.

“Because you don’t learn.” Luke says and this causes the four of us to laugh as Sam huffs and crosses his arms before leaning back in his seat like a kid. “I think they’re kinda cool.”

“It seems to shift between being light as air, to solid as a rock.” Danny comments, slowly passing a hand through it as tiny tendrils of shadows wrapped around his fingers. “It’s like touching cool water . . .”

This piques my interest as I poke at the thing, but unlike Danny’s experience it wraps around my arm before letting it go. “Um . . . I can’t tell if it likes me or not . . .”

“It isn’t a matter of that,” Kele speaks up, drawing our attention once more. “You and your Shadow are one. From the looks of it, it seems to have taken a form of a fox . . .”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Great actually, there hasn’t been a Shadow Fox from as far as the book tells me. It’s quite a feat.”

I have to push down the sense of embarrassment at the sound of pride in his voice, opting to run a hand through my hair instead to hide it.

“Hey, that could be a pretty cool code name: Shadow Fox. Short and sweet, what do you think Ari?” Peter asks as I mull it over. It did sound good, I had to admit.

“You don’t think it sounds too comic-y?”

“Oh yeah, because Spider-Man is _such_ a clever name.” Ava scoffs earning a look from him.

“If we can get back to the subject at hand . . .” Fury trails off, eying us all as we all settle back down.

“Still as straight to the point as ever, Nick.” Kele says with an almost a smile. “If you’ll have me, Aria, I would like to teach you everything I know about how to control your Shadow. Learning to harness it and to use it for good.”

“You mean . . . here? As in staying in one spot?” I say a bit shocked at his offer.

“That’s right,” he nods. “I’m through running, and I’ve been away too long. I know it’s selfish of me to ask; but can you find it in you to give your old man a chance?”

I can feel everyone’s eyes on me as they wait for my decision; they all know how I felt about him . . . how much I hated him for leaving my mom and me behind to do . . . God knows what and here he is asking for a chance. I can easily just turn him down, letting him feel what I had for the past nine plus years but . . .

“ _Forgive not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace_.”

“. . . _Would you feel just as upset if you found out he died along the way?_ ”

Danny and Peter’s voices ring in my mind as I contemplate my choice, they’re right and I have to at least give him a chance.

“. . . Alright.” I finally say. “I’ll give you _one_ with conditions: just because you are my father doesn’t mean you earned the right for me to call you dad. Don’t expect me to be all buddy with you right away either, I barely know you.”

“That seems fair enough.”

“ _And_ , don’t just expect me to get used to this . . . at least not right away.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Aria. Reminds me a little of Fran.” He chuckles.

“Please don’t call me that—just Ari is fine.” I cringe earning a few chuckles from the gang.

Great, on top of the SHIELD training, getting kidnapped by some crazy institute, learning I’m a mutant and finally seeing my estranged father after nearly a decade, my life should get a little easier from here right?

At least I hope that’s the case.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note:  
> So there’s chapter thirteen!  
> This chapter took some time to think about since I wasn’t sure whether or not to introduce Kele in the story at all. I kind of favored the idea of that kind of re-connection between the two so I rolled with it. Despite Ari's dislike of him, personality-wise she's closer to her dad. I also might make some kind of background story between Francine and Kele, if you guys are interested please let me know! 
> 
> Thank you all for being so patient, I know it’s been two weeks since I updated, and I’m so, so sorry about it. I would write a longer note, but my brain is totally fried. If you guys have any questions, please do!
> 
> -MissHattress.


	14. Reconcile

 

The humming of the Tri-Carrier feels like it’s surrounding me as I stretch out on my bed. After that info-bomb Kele gave us earlier that night, we were all dismissed so that he and Fury could discuss a few things. We all gladly took this as a hint to hit the mess hall where the food wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I saw Agent Benjamin and Agent Ana there, aside from a little headache they were okay which I was glad for. The thing Kele used on them was some kind of shadow paralysis technique.

Apparently that comes with the Shadow Tamer territory.

Everything seemed so surreal while we were eating. If I closed my eyes I would feel like we were back at school, just like any other day chatting it up and poking fun at the strange fashion sense of some of Midtown’s more popular elite, but we weren’t. We were in one of the world’s most advanced air ships, training under the best of the best to become the ultimate heroes of the next generation.

No pressure.

The others (more specifically Sam) seemed to especially notice how close Danny and I were since I got back, and admitted that they had placed a bet on when the two of us would finally get together. Much to our surprise Ava was the one who guessed the closest and she happily accepted her reward—nearly a hundred bucks! I couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed by all of it, but our resident fortune cookie took it all with a smile, wrapping an arm around me while we ate.

Since it was getting pretty late, we parted ways afterwards saying goodbye to Pete before he web-slings his way back home. Since my room was a little further away from the others, Danny offered to walk me to my room (not because this place was like a freaking maze, shut up) and despite the strangeness of it I found it kinda . . . sweet. He even gave me a quick kiss before wishing me a goodnight and I had to stop myself from sighing like a love-sick school girl before I stepped in to my room.

I smile a little to myself, turning over to my side and wrapping the blankets closer to me. I guess a few good things had happened between all the crazy . . . I just wished it happened under different circumstances.

Looking out the window, I look up at stars, trying to see the few constellations I could make out from all the light pollution before I eventually fall asleep.

 

I wake up the next morning to the sound of my phone going off and I groggily open my eyes, wincing a bit at the sunlight blaring in to my room. I _have_ to install some curtains in here or something. Reaching over to my desk, I unplug my phone (yet another perk from SHIELD) and check the time.

_Half past ten?! I’m late for school—why didn’t anyone wake me up?!_ I jump out of bed, grabbing a set of clothes before hitting the shower, rushing as quickly as I can to make myself presentable before I run out the door. Well at least I try to before I slam into someone. I nearly fall backwards from the force but the person takes a hold of my wrist before I do. I shake the stars away from my eyes, holding my nose and looking up at brown eyes that match my own.

“Ari, are you alright?” Kele asks, a hint of worry in his voice. I blink the tears away, the pain subsiding much quicker than it usually does. I think I can get used to this whole healing factor thing.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine—but I really have to go, I’m late for school!”

He furrows his brow, confused. “Didn’t you get our message?” he says as I’m about to run off again.

“Message?” I scroll through my phone, noticing the get-well soon’s from Harry and MJ and one from Peter saying that I was in sick today. You would think they would’ve let me know sooner—oh wait, he left me a voicemail . . . damn it. “So I could have slept in a little more?” I whine, my shoulders slumping as I let my bag fall to the ground.

“Not quite, this is the reason I’m here actually. I was hoping we could spend the day together . . . to catch up.” he states a little awkwardly. “Have you read the book I gave you?”

“Um . . . no. I was going to after school today but I guess I could start early. You want to . . . spend the day together?”

“Well, yes. If that’s okay with you that is.”

I take a moment to process his words, a bit surprised at his proposal. Well he _did_ get me out of school for this . . . and it does look like he’s trying, at least.

_Besides, I promised the guys I would try too . . ._ “S-sure. What did you have in mind?”

 

                                                                          ********

 

The car ride to . . . wherever it was we were going is a quiet one. Kele rented a nice car for us to drive in, too I think it was a SUV or something. It’s pretty spacious which is something I like, and it’s a nice navy blue that drives smoothly through the streets of New York. Least to say, I’m pretty surprised when we pull up to the familiar sights of the Aigile cirque tent. The black and white colors of the tent manage to bring a small smile to my face.

“Wait, how do you know about Aigile?” I ask turning to him.

Kele glances back knowingly, unbuckling his seatbelt. “You’ll find out once we’re inside, come on.”

“Jeez . . . why does he have to be so cryptic . . . ?” I grumble, opening the car door and following him inside. It was early, so the performers were probably doing their practicing before they opened later on in the day. When we approach the ticket booth, a loud gasp comes from the screens before the door on the side slams open.

“Can it be?! The two Kateri’s!” a voice calls out. Antonio jumps out of the booth, rushing up to pull me in a hug as he spins me around. I try to take in a breath, getting a good inhale of his cologne as I hear Kele let out a low chuckle.

“It’s good to see you again, Antonio.” He says as the brown haired man releases me, but not before placing a kiss on both my cheeks.

“Kele~! My, my, you’re just as handsome as ever! The years have certainly been good to _you_.”

“Ever the flirt, how has everything been?”

“Brilliant! Our little Ari has become quite a sensation here, well, that is before she was pulled along in that month long assignment for school. It was so brave of you to help those underprivileged children but you mustn’t put yourself in so much danger! Honestly, you know there was a war going on there, you could have gotten yourself killed sweetie!”

“Oh, right! I just . . . couldn’t help myself!” I laugh, trying to hide the nervousness in my voice. Just what the hell was Fury telling my friends!?

“A sensation you say?” Kele asks completely unaffected by the lie.

“Why yes! She’s even gotten a little fan club here and they’ve been wondering when you were coming back to the stage~!”

I blush a bit, shuffling my feet. “Oh come on . . . I don’t seriously have a fan club . . . right?”

Antonio giggles, gesturing across the way to the gift booth where a plethora of Agile merchandise. There are a ton of Marie and Marcus posters, mugs and memorabilia since they were the most well-known duo but I’m a little surprised to see a small corner of stuff with _my_ face on them!

“The sales don’t lie darling!”

“No way! That’s nuts!” I gape, noting the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ pictures of me in the Cheshire cat costume. That all seemed to long ago . . .

“Isn’t it? Well you two must want to head inside. Go on then, before you miss me _too_ much~!”

Kele laughs a little, shaking his head. “Thank you, Antonio. Is Madam Paola in today?”

“Hoo! When isn’t she? I swear that woman never takes a break!”

“What’s the show for this month?” I ask, curious since the display gem outside was turned off. Even if I wasn’t in the shows, I’d still like to know.

“Oh we’re doing our yearly special event!”

I gasp again, latching on to his arm as my eyes grow wide. “Story Teller?!” I exclaim as he grins widely. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I almost missed this!”

“We’re still taking submissions—hint, hint.”

“You’re still running Story Teller?” Kele adds in rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “I haven’t heard that name in a while . . .” I quirk a brow, prompting Antonio to elaborate.

“You see, your father was the one who created Story Teller. Well, it was mostly Francine’s idea, but this little love sick puppy was so gung-ho about it everyone couldn’t help but go along with it!”

“I wouldn’t say ‘puppy’ . . .”

“ _Mom_ used to work here too?!” I say in disbelief. “What else do I _not_ know about you guys?”

“There’s . . . a lot to tell. Why don’t we head inside and see the others?” Kele says as he heads on in. I wave to Antonio, earning an air kiss from the man before following in after Kele.

 

It’s cool inside the lobby, a nice change from the oddly hot weather. I fan myself with my hand, looking around the empty space. I can hear faint voices coming from the slightly parted tent flaps that lead in to the viewing area, and perk up when I hear the voice of Madam Paola. We don’t have to go far before she steps through, talking something over with Brian, the stage manager. The two seemed to be in their own little world before they notice us, Madam’s dark grey eyes widening as her painted lips part slightly.

“Ari . . . Kele . . . ?”

“Madam!” I call out, not helping myself from running over to her and wrapping my arms around frame. She seemed to be a bit shocked before she returns the embrace, patting my now short hair with a low chuckle. “I’ve missed you so much . . . I’m sorry I couldn’t visit you sooner.”

“I’ve missed you too Ari, and I see you brought in a stray with you?” she jokes, looking up over to Kele.

“It’s been too long, Paola.”

“Nearly twevle years Kele and without so much as a letter.” She frowns earning a snicker from me as we release each other—finally someone who understands!

“So I’ve heard . . . but I’m here to make up for it. For real this time.”

Madam studies him for a moment, her expression unreadable before she sighs. “Very well then. Brian, may we pick this up later? It seems our stray has some things he’d like to discuss with us.”

“Of course!” the blond smiles, ruffling my hair affectionately. “Glad to see you in person, Ari. You’re looking good! Been eating your veggies?”

“If I ever strayed off your regimen, I know I would never hear the end of it.” I mutter as he lets out a laugh.

“That’s good! We wouldn’t want to lose out little rising star now would we? I’ll see you two later!” he says waving a hand as Madam led us to her office. It isn’t too far away and it’s fairly spacious decorated with trinkets and awards she’d gotten from around the world. I always thought it was so cool that she got to travel all over, meeting new people and experiencing new things. She told me they were the inspiration for Aigile.

“I suppose you want to know how and why your parents were tied into all this, no?” Madam directs her question to me, digging through her drawer to pull out a massive photo album. “I would like to show you this before we get started, though.”

I open up to the first page, gasping at the sight of the whole crew (aside from a few faces I didn’t recognize) and I can’t help but laugh at a younger Antonio sporting a totally retro hairstyle. “Whoa!” I cry out as my eyes landed on a younger version of my mom. She’s smiling brightly in a very pretty purple ensemble.

She looked so beautiful . . .  

I nearly do a double take at the man standing beside her, a strong arm wrapped around her tinier frame. It was Kele . . . and he was _smiling_! I look up from the man beside me and back to the picture, trying to connect how these two were the same person.

“You . . . you look so _different_!”

“I haven’t changed that much, have I?” Kele mutters, much to Madam’s amusement.

“You _were_ more laid back when you were younger. That seemed to change when you got your powers.”

I snap my head up from my browsing, “You know about those, too?!”

“Of course. In my travels, I’ve met many different kinds of people Ari; human and Mutant alike.”

“I had to find out a lot about my powers from that book and a lot of self-teaching.” Kele says with a glint of regret in his eyes.

“What about your parent’s?” I ask softly.

“I wasn’t exactly on good terms with them . . . they wanted me to stick to traditions but I had other plans.”

“Your father was all alone when he came to the city, so I took him in to work as a stage hand since he had the strength for it.” Madam explained. “That’s where he met Francine. They seemed to get along pretty well, and everyone suspected that he had feelings for her but they never crossed that line in to something more.”

“The shy type I take it?” I smirk.

“Not quite. She turned me down every time I asked her out. Your mother was a tough one, I’ll admit.”

_Yeah . . . she was._ I think. “I never knew . . . why didn’t she ever talk about this?”

“Well she only performed here for a short while, but then took a leave soon afterwards.

“What happened? From what I could tell from these pictures she was really good!”

“She had you.” Kele gently says. “She finally said yes and from there it was history.”

“So . . . mom gave up all this to have me? Why didn’t she ever come back?”

“Fran wanted to be there with you for as long as she could. Her own mother died when she was pretty young and she didn’t have the heart to put you through that too.”

I look down to the photograph of the group, focusing on my mom’s beaming face. She gave up so much for me . . . part of me had to wonder why but seeing how close Kele and she were I can tell that they really loved each other.

“So then why did you leave?”

Kele let out a sigh before leaning back in his seat. “I . . . I messed up. Before I started a life here, your grandparents trained me in the way of an Assassin using our abilities to fight for the freedom of humanity. They were respected members of the Order and I was to inherit that responsibility but . . . that wasn’t what I wanted. So I ran and I thought I could for the rest of my life, but that was just a stupid wish from a stupid kid.”

“. . . Fury mentioned something about the Order getting wiped out, I think? Did something bad happen to your parent’s?” I ask, almost afraid to.

“Yeah . . . turns out even retired, they were still targets. I’m not even sure they were still alive back then . . . to this day I’m still not sure and I figure it’s for the best. When you were still a toddler, someone tried to kill me and they nearly did if it weren’t for your mom. You should have seen her, she just whacked a frying pan right across the guy’s head when he pinned me down in our old house. You were upstairs sleeping in your crib, as if nothing was happening.” He chuckles.

That’s why I had to leave; to protect the two people in my life that mattered the most to me. I know it still doesn’t excuse my actions . . . but I did it to protect you, and to this day it was still the hardest decision I had to make in my life.”

I take a moment to absorb all this in, running a hand through my hair and faintly realizing I have his habit. “It’s . . . really hard to stay angry with you, now . . . you know? It’s like, my whole life I always had so many different ways this could have played out and each time I wasn’t sure I could ever forgive you.” I admit, carefully choosing my words. “You were always just this shadowed figure in my memories but the more I get to know about you, the more I’m starting to understand so . . . I guess that’s a start?”

“You seem to have done some growing up in your time away, Ari.” Madam smiles. “Francine would be so proud to see you now, I’m sure of it.”

I return the gesture, giddy at taking a glimpse in to a side of my mother I never knew. “So then . . . mom knew about all this?”

“Not at first, every time I tried to bring it up I would chicken out. I was afraid she would reject me if she found out I was a mutant . . . but she didn’t. She managed to do some snooping around and eventually found out on her own. Gave me the nastiest glare and yelled at me because I kept it from her.” He got a faraway look in his eyes, as if the scene was playing on the wall in front of him.

“So then I assume after all this, you’re going to help Ari with her own development?” Madam asked, folding her hands together over her desk.

Kele and I exchange a glance before he nods. “Yes. You saw me nearly lose control a few times when I worked here . . . I don’t want her to go through that kind of pain.”

_Except that I already have . . ._

 

We stay chatting with Madam Paola for another hour and a half before we leave. Much to my surprise, he takes us to Central Park and buys the two of us a few hot dogs and bottle waters—he even managed to haggle the vendor in to throwing in some pretzels for half off.

“I know I promised Brian I wouldn’t break the regimen he made me but . . . I ‘m absolutely starving!” I say digging in as I sit down under a nice shady tree. Kele chuckles, sitting down next to me and eating his own hot dog with the works.

“I can’t believe how expensive they’ve gotten, the last time I was hear was with your mother and they were only two-fifty a piece.”

“Yeah, mom had a fit before she got too sick to eat this stuff. We came here to have a nice relaxing day together . . . she was glad to be out and about instead of in bed all day.” I smile at the memory, her voice ringing in my ears so clearly I could almost imagine her sitting right next to me.

“I could never imagine her sitting in one place for too long . . . she was always moving. Makes me wonder how the hell she decided to marry me.”

“Mom would always talk about you, you know,” I murmur, taking a swig of my water and earning his attention. “I never heard a bad word from her about you . . . I thought that was crazy since you aba—left us, but after hearing your side of the story I find it kind of amazing.” I turn to look at him with a faint smile. “She really loved you.” His dark eyes widened slightly as he looked away, taking in a breath to hide what I think are tears.

It was then I realize how much Kele would be hurting since finding out mom died. I lost a mother but he lost a wife, a confidant to his secrets. Someone who he was planning on spending the rest of his life with, but that was all cut short too soon for any of that could happen . . .

Well don’t I feel like an ass now.

“S-she wouldn’t want us to be sad though,” I continue. “So why don’t we change the subject to something a little lighter, eh?”

“Right,” he says clearing his throat. “Though I’m not sure the talk about how your new found power is exactly a lighter tone.”

“You mentioned something about how dangerous it is, can . . . I want to ask you something about it.”

He turns fully to face me, sitting crossed legged and giving me his undivided attention. “I’m all ears, Ari.”

I play with the hem of my shirt, biting my lip before taking in a deep breath. “When I was kidnapped by IVY . . . after I was freed the professors mentioned that I have the X-gene, but I didn’t have enough time to find out. That is until I ran in to Smoker . . .”

“The man who shot you . . . I know him. SHIELD has him in critical care or so I hear.”

“I . . .” I grasp my hands together, looking down at the ground. “I did that to him.” He let out a small sound of surprise as I continue. “I don’t know what came over me when I did it. All I could remember was thinking I really was going to die, that he would kill my friends and I just snapped. I don’t know how to explain it but it felt like . . . like . . .”

“A darkness creeping up in to your mind.” He finished with a sigh. “I was afraid of that . . . do you ever remember feeling that before any of this happened?”

I shake my head, a little relived that he knew what I meant. “No, at least I don’t think so. But since I got these powers I can still feel it. Like it’s just waiting for me to crack again.”

“Ari, for you to be so in control now is a feat in itself.” I look up, surprised to see a gentle yet stern smile on his lips. He holds a hand out to me, as if asking for permission and I placed my hand in his warmer one. “When I first got my abilities, I nearly lost it. All that anger I held for my parents, how I couldn’t lead a normal life got the best of me then and I nearly did something I would regret but seeing you now . . . I’m proud of you, Ari.” He says reaching in to his shirt pocket and handing me something. It had a little weight to it and when he takes his hand away I gasp to see a necklace. It’s a simple silver chain linking around a delicate pair of matching outstretched wings. I gape at it, looking up at him as tears begin to blur my vision.

“But this is—”

“It was your mothers, yeah. She gave it to me as a promise that I would come back for you two. Now I want to use it as a promise to you that I’ll be here, no matter how long it takes to gain your trust.”

“. . .” I’m speechless, I saw this exact same necklace in each and every one of mom’s pictures that Madam showed me, but I would never imagine that he had it. I swallow the lump in my throat, blinking away the tears. If there was something mom would have wanted me to do, I know what it has to be.

Slipping the necklace around my neck, I open up the clasp and securely link it, looking down at the wings before looking back up at him. “Thanks . . . dad.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note:  
> Chapter 14 done! Sorry for the delay in the update, but I hope you all enjoyed!   
> Not a lot of the others in this chapter, if anything it was mostly OC’s unless you count the names mentioned . . .  
> I wanted this chapter to be a little bit of bonding time between Ari and Kele since I wanted to give him a little more screen time. If you guys want more chapters like this, please let me know. :D I also might make the Story Teller a little side chapter later on, not sure yet. If your interests, it’s an event that Aigile holds every year for about a month. The crew, along with the audience, enter in their own original stories and the best one gets a special performance at the end of it. I might have a little story cooked up for it, so keep an eye out for that!  
> Any comment’s, questions, concerns, critiques please feel free to leave a message.
> 
> Have a lovely day!  
> \--Hattress


	15. Mesqa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This authoress has no excuses for her absence. She apologizes in the notes below and hopes you haven't forgotten about her little brain child (story).

“No way! You actually spent time with him?!” MJ calls out excitedly, blue eyes glinting in the cafeteria lights. I take sip on my juice bottle (Mango Tango, yum!) before answering her. “It really isn’t that much of a big deal.” I did mention that we spent the day together when I was “sick” but what I didn’t mention was the small training session we had to help me get a handle on my power. So far I can only summon two tails on my own before feeling completely drained. I guess all that adrenaline helped fuel the incident that happened with Smoker. And with Kele.

Though ever since that day. . . I felt a little scared to use it again. Kele told me that mastering my shadow was a key in to not letting it take me over and that using it was the only way to accomplish that. Since I was so tired after that day, he decided to give me a break and sleep. That is until Ava came in to my room to give me my homework. Since she was so far ahead in her studies, she’s been helping me catch up which was super sweet of her.

 She’s a pretty good tutor, way easier to understand than Pete that’s for sure, and I had to wonder why we didn’t hang out more before. Sure she’s a little stiff, but she loosens up after talking to her and we even have the same guilty pleasure of cheesy romance novels and movies.

Needless to say, we’re seeing a rom-com and all you can eat junk food weekend in our future.

“’Not a big deal?’” Harry scoffs, picking at his fries. “We all know how you feel about your dad, Ari . . . but it’s pretty cool that he’s back.” He says trying to hide the sadness in his eyes with a smile, but knowing him since we were younger MJ and I know better.

_That’s right . . . Mr. Osborn turned into The Goblin . . ._ “Everything will work out, Harry, just give it time.” I say kind of understanding what he was going through. We both weren’t especially close with our dads, to be honest.

He looks surprised for a second before he rubs the back of his neck. “Thanks Ari . . . I kind of missed your creepy intuitiveness.” He grins as I toss my bottle cap at him good naturedly.

“Love you too, Osborne.”

“It’s so good to have you back!” MJ says as she wraps an arm around me in a hug for the tenth time today.

“So you’ve told me since I got back, but man I missed you guys. It’s nice to go back to normal life.”

“What, traveling the outback’s sounds totally cool! Shame your group got attacked by wild monkey’s though.” MJ muses, though I can tell she’s itching for the story.

Seriously Fury, what the hell?!

“Y-yeah,” I say with a twitchy grin as I spot Peter and the group walking our way. I send a small wave, my face heating up when my eyes land on Danny. _Keep_ _it_ _together_ , _Kateri_!

“Yo! How’s the lunch today—anything good?” Sam asks taking a seat as he eyes Harry’s fries.

“Cardboard pizza and soggy French fries,” said boy frowns pushing his fries over to the human rocket. Pfft more like human trashcan at the rate he was shoveling it down.

“Dude, have some self-control!” Luke grimaces as Sam let’s out a huge burp. Gross.

“What? I was hungry! We nearly missed lunch because-” he notices the pointed looks from Peter, Luke and Ava before clearing his throat. “W-we got detention . . . ?” he finishes lamely as I slowly shake my head, deciding not to comment.

“You guys are in there a lot nowadays—what on earth are you getting busted for?” MJ asks with a frown, it directed mostly at Peter though as he and the rest of the group take the empty seats.

“Oh you know, we’re all just going through a phase . . . right guys?”

“Sure. A phase, we’ll get over it before you know it!” Luke smiles, backing him up as I let out a snicker. I suddenly feel a warmth surround my right hand as I smile and curl my hand around Danny’s. We would always exchange small signs of affection like this, nothing too flashy and I appreciated that since I wasn’t entirely sure how this . . . relationship worked.

I scoot a little closer to him while the others tried to convince Mary Jane that they weren’t turning into complete delinquents much to the amusement of Harry and Ava who sat out of the argument.

“How are you feeling?” he asks me lowly, rubbing slow circles on my palm and instantly making me feel calmer.

“Better, I’m not as queasy in the mornings anymore but I’ve been getting hungrier lately. Do you think it has something to do with . . . ?”

“I believe something like _that_ would require a lot more energy to use. It’s only a theory, though. Do you think you’ll have some free time after school today?”

“Um, I think so? I don’t have any appointments today and Kele wants to pick up on our sessions tomorrow. Why? Have another impromptu date planned on the Tri-Carrier again?” I grin.

“Not quite, no.” He laughs. “I wanted to take you to that friend of mine. I think he might be able to help you get a better grasp on you power.”

I tilt my head a little, thinking it over. “I don’t see why not. After I tried to use it willingly I was only able to use two tails before I collapsed. I might have concentration problems.” I laugh dryly.

“Then after school, meet me by the gates?”

I nod, finding it funny that in the past few days I’ve been getting whisked off to various places in the city. “Of course!”

 

                                                                                  ******

 

“I dunno, it just feels like she’s out to get me, ya know?” Harry gripes as he looks over his history exam.”

“Oh come off it she isn’t after you, you just suck at taking notes.” MJ snickers as he shoots her a look.

“How the heck did you pass, Ari? You haven’t even been here!”

“I have an ace tutor,” I reply with a confident smirk. “Better catch up Osborne~” I say waving my better test score in his face and jumping back when he tries to snatch it. MJ laughs as he begins to chase me, ranting about how unfair it is until we reached the gates. “Well this is where I leave you two—I have other matters to attend to!”

“Ooh, a date with Mr. Rand eh?” our red headed reporter grins knowingly. “They grow up so fast! Don’t they Harry?”

“It feels like yesterday she was calling boys icky.” He plays along, wiping a fake tear away from his eyes. I roll my eyes, noting the payback.

“Hah, hah, very funny mom and dad. Should I bring up the ‘Fair incident’ or should I keep that to myself.” The two immediately go quiet, MJ looking around quickly before Harry shushes me.

“We all promised we would _never_ speak about that day again!” he hisses as I tear his hand away from my mouth with a knowing smirk.

“And it shall remain that way as long as you two keep out of my love life.” I say, but not before giving the two a pointed look and bidding them goodbye to go meet my prince. I say a few hello’s to some other students I know and who I shared classes with but none that I could remember the names of as I look around to spot the blond haired heir.

“Ari, over here!” I turn my head to the left, opening my mouth to greet him before letting it drop at the sight of the car he’s standing next to. It was an extremely expensive looking sleek town car, parked at the curb with a very serious looking driver waiting patiently inside. I walk over to him in awe, looking the car over before turning my gaze to him.

“Uh . . . we’re going in this?” I ask uneasily, scooting away from the vehicle.

“I know it’s not really much of your thing, but it was the only one available. There aren’t any public transportations that takes us where the Doctor lives.” He replies sheepishly, holding a hand out to help me inside. I shuffle a little on the posh leather seats, the smell of it reminding me that it’s definitely new and definitely expensive.    

“Doctor? Like a shrink? I know I have a few screws loose but I don’t think I’m that bad . . . yet.”

“No, no, he’s not that kind of Doctor . . . well, sort of.” He explains nodding to the driver as he starts the car. “He’s a master of mystical arts and someone who I consider a mentor. He’s the one who helped Spiderman and I during that dream incident.”

“Oh yeah . . . that.” I say flatly, clearly remembering that invasive feeling in the back of my mind. “That was the first time you were in my head. Which by the way is totally weird now that I say it out loud.”

He laughs at that, leaning his arm on the armrest attached to the door. “I still haven’t properly apologized for that by the way. I know you like your privacy.”

“Well if it weren’t for that you wouldn’t have found me,” I shrug. “Just . . . ask first, yeah?”

“You have my word. Dream walking can be a dangerous thing if done too often or recklessly.”

“So then why could I remember what happened?”

“That’s what I hope the doctor can tell us, but let’s save that for when we get there. For now, how about we talk about why you get so nervous around stuff like this?” he gestures to the car.

I sigh, leaning back in the seat. “It’s not really much of a story.”

“Tell me anyway? I like knowing little things about you.” He admits which makes me blush which I’m _sure_ he noticed.

“G-growing up, we never had much money is all . . . so I’m not exactly used to all of this. Plus there was that one time I went to Harry’s house when I was younger with Pete and MJ. I accidentally spilled juice on a really expensive rug that was in his room. It didn’t really bother him since he was loaded anyway, but it really scarred me.” I can see he’s trying hard not to laugh, but I can hear the stifled snickers since the car’s so quiet. I can’t even hear the cars honking outside.

“That . . . sounds like you but if he never held it against you, why would there be anything to worry about?”

“I was scared if I did it again, his dad would see it and would never let me be friends with Harry.” I pout, the reason sounding a little out there now that I think about it. Cut me some slack I was nine! “I didn’t have many friends back then, so I think that justifies that.”

“You didn’t? That’s actually kind of surprising, you’re so friendly.”

I smile at his kindness, leaning my head on his strong shoulder as he wraps an arm around my waist. “I guess I never took a liking to anyone other than those three. Plus the other girls teased me and MJ a lot because we always hung out with the boys. We got them back by putting worms in their shoes.” I snigger as he shakes his head.

“That sounds like something you would do too.”

“In our defense, they were rather mean little girls. What about you? Did you have a lot of friends in K’un-lun?” I ask, curious since I didn’t know a lot about the time he spent there.

“A few, yes. Most of my time was dedicated to training, however. I also have a brother, though not by blood. We were close . . . before I acquired the Iron Fist that is.” Looking up at him, I note the faraway look in his eyes that stare painfully ahead.

“. . . Tell me about K’un-Lun? What does it look like?”

“It’s beautiful.” He whispers. “It’s surrounded by snow and mountains, but inside the city it’s never cold. There are towers that seem to stretch beyond the skies and the palace that resides in the center of it all that shines like gold and can oversee the entirety of it all. There are all kinds of animals there too and plants that shine like gems. You would love it.”

“It sounds like something from a dream! Do you ever get homesick?”

“’Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.’” He quotes quietly, much like he always does.

“Again with those roundabout answers.” I smile as I reach up to place a kiss on his cheek. “Don’t ever change.”

We spend the rest of the ride in peaceful silence which I use to sort out my thoughts. It was nice that there wasn’t any pressure to talk between us, unlike some other people I know. There’s a kind of mutual understanding between us that didn’t really need words. Maybe it had something to do with the dream walking?

_I wonder if this is how mom felt like with dad . . ._ I ponder, closing my eyes. The thought is a little embarrassing . . . considering I never even planned on being in a relationship. At all. No one ever caught my attention like Danny has and if I never met him I probably would have just graduated then work full time at Aigile. Now, I have no idea where my life is going.

I do know that I want to graduate, but now with SHIELD work, everything’s been kind of thrown for a loop. I know what I was getting into wasn’t a game; that I joined them because I wanted to find Kele but after helping the gang save people in the city I knew what I was doing was meaningful. Sure it was dangerous, but so was flipping through the air without a support net to catch you if you fall.

I must have drifted off because I wake up with Danny gently shaking my shoulder. “C’mon, we’re here.” I blink slowly, stretching my arms out in front of me as I let out a yawn. “Have a nice nap?”

“Yeah, I guess I was so comfortable I just drifted off.” I laugh as he reached a hand over to brush my bangs out of my eyes.

“It’s okay, I didn’t have the heart to wake you up since you looked so peaceful. Did you sleep okay?” he asks me as he steps out of the car, offering his hand out to me as I follow out right behind him.

“Surprisingly well. I haven’t had any weird dreams so that’s a plus.” I look around, noting the quiet but slightly eerie street. What catches my attention though, is the grand manor that stands before us. It looms over everything else, giving off a kind of weird pressure. “Your doctor friend lives here?”

“What do you see?” he asks, an excited gleam in his green eyes.

I give him a strange look, “A really cool mansion that looks like it came out of a Scooby-Doo cartoon?” he smiles widely at my response, squeezing my hand without another word and leading me through the doors. “D-Danny?”

“Doctor? Doctor are you here?” he calls out in to a dark foyer. I squint, the weird pressure from before getting stronger the more we step inside. I nearly jumped out of my skin when the room is suddenly lit up by an enormous fireplace the flames licking the air as a man appears before us in a giant cloud of purple smoke.

“Ah, young Daniel, Miss Kateri.” He greets as he snaps his fingers and the lights that hang around us slowly come to life. “It’s good to have you two. Welcome to my home.” He says with a slight bow. Danny returns it, his hand slipping from mine as I take a cautious step back.

“Thank you for having us, Doctor.” He replies as the Doctor’s dark eyes lock with mine, then looked to the area just above my shoulder. I turn my head to look at what caught his attention to see a single shadow tail, coiling and shifting to the presence of this man. Was this the reason why I feel so uneasy?

“W-what . . . ?” I try to will it away like Kele taught me, but it’s no use. The damn thing refused to go away!

“It seems my assumptions were correct . . .” he muses, taking a few steps towards me. Something in the back of my mind is screaming at me to back away, but I stand my ground. Danny knows him, and if he says he can help me, I’ll let him. The Doctor stops in front of me, studying my reaction before he waves a hand in front of me. I feel a sense of calm engulf me then, like I just took in a breath of fresh air and a weight is lifted off of my shoulders.

“What-what just happened?” I say dumbly, looking back at my tail (that never stops sounding weird) to see it swishing along peacefully. “How did you do that?” I ask in wonder, not feeling tired at all. Since getting back from the IVY labs, my movements felt sluggish, now I feel lighter . . . like my old self again.

“Nothing more than help clear your mind,” he holds his hand open, revealing a pink, clear crystal resting in his palm. “Does this look familiar?”

I furrow my brow, not really recognizing it until I touch it with my fingers and I get a nauseating feeling in my gut. “That’s whatever that was used on the others and me back at the IVY facility!”

“Correct. It would seem that the scientists that developed this serum had a bit of help from magic. Dark Magic in fact. It would seem that they would use this to control the army they would build.” He frowns, walking away from me and placing it on the table near the window.

“So is it fully out of her now?” Danny asks as I flex my fingers, the motion feeling fluid and natural instead of achy and rigid.

“Yes, fortunately the help you’ve been receiving from the SHIELD doctors helped me draw it out less painfully. It seems they know what they’re doing.”

“Painfully . . . ?” I wince, not exactly sure how to feel about that little tidbit. I decided not to linger on it, just feeling grateful for what he’s done so far. “Danny told me you could help me with . . . this.” I say pointing to the tail. “Aside from what my father told me, do you know anything about the Shadow Tamers, Doctor?”

“The Shadow Tamers . . . that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.” He hums, reaching into his bookcase to flip through a rather small book. “Legends say that the power of the Tamer’s dates back to ancient times,” he begins, tossing the book up in to the air as it spins. A swirl of white smoke gives way to a mirror-like screen. “It was once bestowed upon certain individuals that the spirits deemed worthy enough to master, each individual gaining a sort of ally in the form of an animal that could pass along their skills.”

While he explains this the mirror shows silhouettes of people from all different kinds of ages, wielding the power of the Tamer. One looked like it controlled a lion, then a bear, then a snake-there was even one that looked like they used a spider!

“It was once said that there were Tamer’s that create a bond so strong with their ally’s, that they became one. Their spirits uniting to the point where they were one and the same.” He finishes as the mirror shows one last image of the Tamer and their shadow fusing, then it disappears and the book floats back down in to his hands.

I blink, reaching in to my bag to take out the book Kele gave me. There’s a lot in here that’s helped me understand what other Tamers before me went through, but since each one was different . . . it didn’t really help much with my own predicament. “Then . . . do you think you can help me figure out what’s written in this thing? There are a few pages I can’t understand, and . . .”

“It would be my honor, Miss Kateri.” He says with a small smile.

“Call me Ari, and thank you for helping me. You too Danny, I haven’t felt this relieved in months!”

“There is one more thing you should know, Ari.” The Doctor says after I handed him the book. “There is another reason as to why you are having trouble controlling your power.”

“What is it?”

He scans through the pages of the book with a thoughtful look on his face. “You aren’t accepting your ‘ally’, and that will lead to complications.” I bet the doctor could see the question marks floating around my head as he continues. “There is a part of ‘you’ that you’re rejecting. Either consciously or subconsciously.”

“And in rejecting it, it shows in your ability to control it . . .” Danny said, placing his hand on his chin. “That might explain what happened with your fight with Smoker.”

“Um, can I get that in normal please? I’m not too good with riddles.”

“Your power might have been reacting to your life being in danger, which makes sense but by what the Doctor says you have to accept your gifts. Embrace them.”

I mull this over, thinking that maybe I _should_ visit a shrink. “So . . . what do I do then? If I’m not realizing I’m doing it, what can I do?”

“By speaking with it of course.” The Doctor says matter-of-factly, catching me off guard.

“How’s that?”

The dark haired man smiles knowingly, walking past us to lead us up the stairs. “Follow me.” he says before he disappears up the long staircase. I look at Danny, who shrugs as I follow the Doctor, Danny falling in to place beside me.

_Do I just talk to them, er, me or something?_ I wonder as my tail curls around my shoulder, almost in a comforting notion. _This just keeps on getting weirder and weirder._

The Doctor waited for us before opening a set of double doors, revealing a rather spacious square room decorated with all kinds of strange objects and masks. What drew my attention though, was the ornate circular rug that had all kinds of symbols and runes. I had no idea what they meant, but he gestured for me to sit in the center; Danny taking a seat just outside of it. He has a kind of tense look in his posture, but I shrug it off, otherwise I would be getting nervous too.

“You have a rather impressive awareness of the spiritual world for someone who’s never dabbled in the arts.” Doctor Strange says. “You could see right through my Mansion’s illusion and the reaction you felt when you stepped inside proved to me you were aware, to a point at least to the spirits that haunt these grounds.”

“Well, I could always see things most people couldn’t. Fury and my father called it Eagle Vision . . . would that have anything to do with it?” I say as his eyes widened slightly.

“I see . . . well, shall we begin? I need you to stay as calm as you can Ari while I open up the connection, can you do that?” I nod, a little unsure then he steps out of the circle, holding his arms up as he began to chant. I take in deep breaths as the runes began to glow an icy blue, a strange wind picking up as his chants began to grow louder. I felt a kind of floating sensation, besides my being grounded firmly and as the Doctor finished, I close my eyes as a giant gust of wind blew through me that nearly knocks me over.

Opening my eyes, I look around to see a faint blue barrier surround me. I  feel something watching me and when I turn, the first thing I notice is my lack of tail, the second thing I notice is a pair of black as night eyes watching me and I have to back away to take in what I see. Gaping, I look up slightly to gaze at a black fox with four tails. Its fur seem to glisten at some points, like stars as its dark eyes study me, ears perched high on its head as it tilts its head slightly.

It’s fairly larger than a normal fox that much I notice, and if it were as strong as it looked it could probably carry me away on its back if it wanted to. I gulp, not really sure on what to do and I can’t really see where the Doctor or Danny were because of the barrier. It looked like we were floating in space of something.

“ _How strange._ ” The voice came from all around me in a womanly lilt. “ _Usually I am seeing through your eyes . . . but looking at you from here makes you seem so small._ ” The fox says, but its muzzle doesn’t move.

“Y-you can talk?!” I squeak, voice cracking as she laughs.

“ _Of course, child. Though I have not done so in quite some time. Was it the doing of that man that smells of earth and fire?_ ”

“Earth and . . . do you mean Doctor Strange?”

“ _Yes, he seems to have tapped into something that hasn’t been accessible in decades_.”

“He told me I should t-talk to you, that I don’t accept ‘you’.”

She looked down at me, a little sadness shining in her eyes. “ _Because you are afraid of ‘me’._ ”

I look away, feeling a small pang of guilt. “Can you blame me? The first time I tapped in to you, I nearly killed a guy!”

“ _I was only trying to protect you. Our life force is tied as one; if you die, I die._ ”

“I get that but how could I have lived knowing that I killed that guy in front of my _friends_ no less?”

“ _Even though he would have gone on to hurt those you love?_ ”

“That still doesn’t excuse what I did to Simone . . . I hurt her because I lost control . . . that’s what scares me.” She’s silent at this, her eyes still on me as her tails shifted to lift my head up to look at her.

“ _You are a very kind girl, Aria Kateri. You wish to not hurt others, which is an honorable trait . . . but one that can put your life in danger._ ”

“Then what should I . . . ‘we’, do?”

“ _That is all up to you, child. ‘We’ are one and the same._ ”

To keep me safe . . . “Then how about this: I’ll accept ‘you’ . . . I’ll train as hard as I have to, to keep control, so that it doesn’t happen again and in return I won’t lose control. Unless I’m in serious trouble, at least.”

“ _A pact?_ ” she let out an amused snort, her shoulders shaking lightly. “ _How interesting . . . but are you aware of the cunningness of foxes? I could be lying to you for all you know._ ”

I rub the back of my neck, giving her a sheepish grin. “I kind of took that into account but something tells me you’d keep your word. We are one, right?”

“ _That is correct. Very well then,_ ” she stood, going to her full height before she bows her head. “ _I accept. All you have to do now is place your hand on my head and you will have my word._ ”

I reach over, scooting closer to her as she looks up at me with what I think is a smile. It’s now that I really looked at her, that something seems really familiar about this fox . . . but I can’t tell what it is.

“What . . . what’s your name? You must have one, right?” I ask as my hand hovers inches above her fur.

“ _Mesqa. My name, is Mesqa._ ”

I smile a bit before placing my hand on her surprisingly soft fur, the warmth from her body spreading up my arm and through my own. “Nice to meet you then Mesqa.” I say before I wake up with a gasp. I sit up, Danny right beside me as he steadies me with a hand on my arm.

“Easy there Ari, take deep breaths . . .”

“That happened, right?” I say right off the bat, looking from him to Doctor Strange. “There was a giant black fox? Really cool voice and four tails?”

“You . . . met them then, I suppose?” the Doctor asks slowly. I nod.

“Y-yeah.” I place a hand on my forehead, my stomach churning. “Are we sure that . . . _that_ is a mutant power?”

“What do you mean?”

“Something about it, about her, Mesqa . . . it felt alive.”

“From what I could tell from the book you gave me,” the Doctor began. “The power of the Tamer is indeed a genetic mutation at least it is now. This entity that you call Mesqa, is a part of you. It’s what you shaped it to be. Just as your father shaped his shadow to be an eagle.”

“A Fox though . . . but why did she have four tails? Last time I checked fox’s only have one, yeah?”

“Foxes are known throughout history to have a strong connection to magic. There could be many reasons why you have control over four tails, but the answer ultimately relies in you, Ari. I wish I could tell you more.”

“I figured it was going to end up like that.” I laugh lowly, scratching my cheek. “Well in any case, thank you Doctor. This really helped, I think what I have to do now is focus on learning to use it . . . it won’t do much good if I get freaked out every time they come out.”

“You are very welcome, and please feel free to stop by any time you need my assistance.” He says with a small smile as Danny helps me up and we head back downstairs. When we are just about to exit, the Doctor calls us back. “Ari, you have a very special power growing in you . . . I see great things in your future and I await to see the fantastic things you will accomplish.”

“Oh, t-thank you . . .” I say as we both wish him a good night. The sun is already setting and there’s a slight chill in the air but I don’t feel cold. If anything I feel like there’s a warmth that’s wrapping me from head to toe like a blanket . . . or maybe it’s because Danny’s holding my hand again.

“I don’t know if I’ve said this before,” he says as we pass through the gates. “But you are amazing.”

“A-amazing?” I laugh. “I wouldn’t say amazing . . . if anything you guys are. Running around saving New York . . . saving me and balancing your regular lives. I don’t know how you guys do it.”

“I didn’t mean it in that sense, exactly. I mean your will—it’s incredibly strong Ari, it’s something I sensed from you for a while now.” He says as he opens the door for me again. “Considering everything you’ve been through, most people wouldn’t be able to handle that kind of mental strain.”

“What do you mean?”

“You couldn’t feel it since you were speaking with . . . Mesqa, right?” I nod. “You released a powerful energy before you woke up, it nearly cracked the barrier you were in.”

“I . . . did?”

“Yeah,” he smiles, leaning down to place a light kiss on my forehead. “You just keep getting more and more interesting.”

“Hey now, is that the only reason you’re with me?” I grin good-naturedly, punching him lightly on the chest. He catches my hand, his green eyes looking down at me. There’s a strange look in his eyes again, the one that manages to make me feel all light headed and tongue-tied. My heart begins to throb in my chest as he leans in close again and for a moment I think he’s going to kiss me before he sits up straight  

“Of course not,” he says as if nothing happened and completely normal. “I’m with you, for you Ari.”

I tried to speak, but nothing seemed to come out as the car began to move.

What the hell was _that_?

 

Author Notes:

Hello lovelies! It seems that I have a habit of disappearing for month long breaks from writing . . . and for that I apologize! I’m so, so, sorry I left this story in a sort of limbo for so long. I still love this fandom and I haven’t lost the will to write this story, it’s just been a rather rough couple of months and it was hard to write for a bit.

I still want to thank you all for supporting this story, without you guys I probably wouldn’t keep updating (you know, when I do) and it still might be a little slow, but I’m getting back to it.

Now on to this chapter note! To be perfectly honest, I have no idea where the prospect of Mesqa came from. I don’t tend to follow a guideline when I write but I liked the idea of the Tamer’s shadows having a kind of ‘form’. If you guys are keen on the idea of her, let me know!

On another note, I really like writing scenes with Ari, MJ, Peter and Harry, though Pete isn’t really around a lot (which I plan on changing) I really do like their chemistry.

Or maybe I’m biased.

Nevertheless I always get a little sad when I read some fics and after the basic introduction we never see the two besties again.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and have a lovely night!

Ps: to the anon that asked about Ari’s ability, it is indeed Eagle Vision. ;))

-Hattress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes:
> 
> Hello lovelies! It seems that I have a habit of disappearing for month long breaks from writing . . . and for that I apologize! I’m so, so, sorry I left this story in a sort of limbo for so long. I still love this fandom and I haven’t lost the will to write this story, it’s just been a rather rough couple of months and it was hard to write for a bit.  
> I still want to thank you all for supporting this story, without you guys I probably wouldn’t keep updating (you know, when I do) and it still might be a little slow, but I’m getting back to it. 
> 
> Now on to this chapter note! To be perfectly honest, I have no idea where the prospect of Mesqa came from. I don’t tend to follow a guideline when I write but I liked the idea of the Tamer’s shadows having a kind of ‘form’. 
> 
> If you guys are keen on the idea of her, let me know!
> 
> On another note, I really like writing scenes with Ari, MJ, Peter and Harry, though Pete isn’t really around a lot (which I plan on changing) I really do like their chemistry.
> 
> Or maybe I’m biased.
> 
> Nevertheless I always get a little sad when I read some fics and after the basic introduction we never see the two besties again.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and have a lovely night!
> 
> Ps: to the anon that asked about Ari’s ability, it is indeed Eagle Vision. ;))
> 
> -Hattress


End file.
